


BATIM Drabbles

by phantomthief_fee



Series: BATIM Drabbles [2]
Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine
Genre: F/F, F/M, Lampblack City, M/M, Optic Ink Universe (Bendy and the Ink Machine), Rubberhose AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-29
Updated: 2018-12-06
Packaged: 2018-12-08 07:10:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 110
Words: 96,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11641530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phantomthief_fee/pseuds/phantomthief_fee
Summary: This includes prompts I was given by users on Tumblr as well as ones I've written on my own.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own Bendy and the Ink Machine

Based off this comic:  
http://yunisverse.tumblr.com/post/161594718386/arguing-about-headcanons-never-helps-anybody  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
“Sammy?” He’d heard that voice, her voice, and for a moment he was human again. He was sorting sheet music for that day’s cartoon. She’d caught him off guard, as she always seemed to. For a woman so loud, she moved remarkably quietly. He turned around and she was standing there, one hand on her hip, the other on her chest. His heart swelled at seeing her familiar visage and for a second, he forgot where he was, what had happened to him.

“I’m so glad-” But no, it wasn’t her. He closed his eyes and when he opened them that thing stood there. The creature that made a mockery of her image and her voice.

“That I found you.” It finished. It looked almost hopeful. What had it hoped to accomplish coming here? Using her voice to speak to him. It disgusted him. He harbored no fantasies that he could have saved Susie from the ink that had corrupted him so fully, but he liked to think he could have at least given her some companionship in this horror show that had become their lives. Instead she had succumbed and become this…this thing.

“H…How are you feeling?” It asked after a few minutes of him simply staring. He didn’t dignify it with a response. Not to that question. He could feel his anger building, threatening to spill over and explode.

“Silly question I guess…” It laughed nervously, twisting a strand of hair with its finger.

“…The tip of the tongue…” He began to mutter to himself.

“Pardon?”

“The lips, the teeth, the tip of the tongue.” He repeated.

“Um, I don’t-”

“THE TIP OF THE TONGUE, THE TEETH, THE LIPS!” He yelled, banging an inky fist on the table.

“Ah, uh, I-” Of course it didn’t understand. It used her speech, her mannerisms, her soul, but it was not her. It would never be her.

“You are not Susie Campbell.” He turned away from the wretched abomination, back to his plans, back to the safe and comforting presence of the one who would deliver him for his loyalty. But still the thing lingered, watching him with a nervousness that Susie had never possessed. The woman hadn’t had a nervous bone in her body.

“What was she like?” It asked, moving closer. He looked away, gritting his sharpened teeth to keep from screaming at her.

“……Loud.” He said. “Filling each room with her noise…Voice echoing into each corner. Melodious, laughing, energetic…” For a moment he felt like himself, not the creature he’d become. The memory of Susie was enough to make him feel content. He’d hated when she’d barge into his office, voice booming through the room, but he missed it now. She was the only person who he’d somewhat liked at this wretched studio. Then it was gone, swept away by the thing standing beside him. “And so, so weak.”

“What.” The thing seemed taken aback by this, as if it didn’t already know it was the reason Susie wasn’t there.

“All that drive, her will, her bravery, washed away with ink. Leaving this weak, paltry shade behind.” He gestured disdainfully to the thing. “Why do you come to me? Why do you taunt me with her voice, her failure…her broken promises?” The thing was balling its hands into fists now, looking frustrated with him. Good. He didn’t want it to like him. He didn’t want its pity, its half-hearted attempts at salvation. Only one person could bring him that.

“False angel…Did you think you could save me?” He continued. “After what you’ve done to her soul?”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> My earlier works were heavily inspired by other people's works, okay?

This one's based on this post:  
http://yunisverse.tumblr.com/post/160939025626/duo-reqs-bendy-version  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Sammy wasn’t sure why he’d come back. He didn’t even like working at Sillyvision, not really. So why had he decided to answer Joey’s letter? Why had he decided to come back to the studio? He wasn’t about to admit to himself that he missed his job. He’d liked being around people like Susie and Henry, and even Joey to a certain extent. Susie had been a good coworker, always respectful of his space, but concerned enough to drag him out when the need arose. Henry had been a good boss, generally keeping to himself. He’d understood Sammy’s need to be alone when it came to his work. Joey had been…something special. He’d paid well at the very least, and he’d even left Sammy alone most of the time. The one thing he hadn’t missed though, was the ink. The second he entered the studio, he groaned. There was ink everywhere. He couldn’t take a single step without stepping in some kind of puddle of ink.

“Leave it to Joey to let this place go to shit.” He muttered. “Fucking ink.” Within a few minutes he was covered in splotches of ink. He continued muttering and swearing as he slouched through the animation department derelict studio. Most of the doors were locked, so his path was fairly linear. He found himself soon enough in front of the ink machine, the bane of his career at Sillyvision. That damned thing had flooded the music department so many times, and not once had Joey ever told him what the machine was even for! Even Henry didn’t know. It seemed like it was off, and by no means was Sammy going to turn it on. He wanted to get to his office, see if Joey had replaced him. Of course, Sillyvision had been on its last legs when he’d taken off, so he doubted anyone had been hired to fill in.

“Aren’t you going to turn it on?” A voice that sounded eerily like Bendy’s echoed through the room.

“I’m not stupid.” Sammy said flatly. “I don’t know what that thing’s gonna do.” There was a huffing sound and Bendy the Dancing Demon stepped into Sammy’s line of vision. Ooookay. That was new. The last time Sammy had been here, that had not been a thing. Bendy had not been able to roam around freely when Sammy had been working there. Hell, he hadn’t even been real! He’d just been a drawing on pieces of paper!

“Henry turned it on.” Bendy said, frowning. “He wasn’t stup- Wait, no, actually he kinda was. Turnin’ it on didn’t work out so well for him.”

“So I’m not the only idiot who came back.” Sammy said.

“Well, we sent you a letter.” Bendy said. “Would’ve been rude to ignore it.”

“I ignore a lot of mail from this dump. Why’d you send me a letter?” They were lucky he hadn’t thrown this letter away. Most of the mail he got from Joey went into the trash, but not this one. The handwriting had been different. And so, like a fucking idiot, he’d come to the studio. Made a little more sense to know Bendy had written it.

“Wait…You said we. Who else is here?” Sammy said suddenly.

“Me, Alice, Boris, and….Henry.” Bendy shuffled a little bit. “Well…Sorta Henry. Somethin’ that used to be Henry.”

“Bendy? Is that Sammy with you?” Alice Angel walked into the room. Boris was close behind her, limping a little bit. All three of them looked a little worse for wear, dripping ink all over the floor. In all his life, Sammy had never once wondered if he’d somehow stumbled into a situation drunk. It didn’t really happen to him. Right now, he wondered just that. There were alcohols that caused hallucinations, right? Maybe he’d accidentally drunk something like that. Because there was no way what he was seeing was actually real.

“Oh Sammy!” Alice’s face lit up upon seeing him. “Thank goodness! You have to stop Henry! He’s going crazy!” It has been so long since he’d heard Susie’s voice. Granted, Alice’s inflection and tone was softer than Susie’s natural speaking voice. And she certainly didn’t seem like she was going to grab his ear and drag him anywhere.

“What happened to Henry?” Sammy decided against freaking out. It would be too much trouble to panic. It probably had something to do with that damned ink. That stuff always made Sammy feel sick when it dripped onto him.

“The ink took him over.” Boris said, looking rather like a kicked puppy. “We tried to help, but…it was too late.”

“What do you mean, the ink took him over?” Sammy frowned.

“He, um, he…well…He kind of turned into a toon?” Alice laughed nervously. “We’re not really sure how it happened….But he became like us.”

“Had a whole soul and everything.” Bendy muttered. “He coulda just been fine like that but noooo. He had to go trying to help us, the idiot.” Okay. So Henry, his boss, a flesh and blood human, had turned into a toon. Yes, this totally made sense.

“He pushed himself too far and, well, the ink took over.” Alice continued. “We’re not even sure what he’s trying to do anymore.”

“So…What? What do you want me to do?” Sammy asked, leaning against the wall. “Killing a toon ain’t exactly easy, right?”

“Well….” Alice sighed and pursed her lips. “We just thought…We needed someone and….Henry said you still lived in the area, before he lost it, and we needed someone…” She trailed off. Sammy was pretty sure they had chosen the least qualified person to be their backup. He wrote music for crying out loud! He didn’t know anything about cartoons or animation or whatever the Hell they needed. He should have taken off right then. Should have left right then and never looked back. But he didn’t.

“I’m going to regret this.” He said. “What do you want me to do?”

“Y-You’re not freaking out?” Alice blinked.

“At this point, nothing will surprise me.”

“Attaboy Sammy!” Bendy slung an arm around Sammy’s shoulder, dragging the man down to his level. “Now, here’s what we gotta do.”

.

.

The music department was pretty much the same as it had always been, plus a lot more ink puddles. There were also a lot of scribblings in what Sammy recognized as Henry’s hand. There were model sheets, blueprints, and notes from Joey scattered all over the floors.

“He better not have touched my stuff.” Sammy said, making a beeline for his office. He had to wade through a giant ink puddle to get in, which was very unpleasant. Everything was the same inside. A thin layer of dust coated everything inside, from the desk he’d written at to the radio on the shelf. Sammy could see some inky footprints in the dust, leading up to a table in the corner he’d previously used to store instruments. A bunch of papers were scattered all over the table, most of them bearing Henry’s writing. Sammy couldn’t read a single words, but he gathered them up to bring back to the toons. This wasn’t the weirdest thing he’d seen in this studio. That honor went to every interaction he’d had with Joey in his last years at the studio. He’d caught Joey drawing a pentagram in his office more than once. He didn’t see any pentagrams this time, but who knew what was lurking behind closed doors. He left his office and was about to head for the stairs when he heard something coming from the band room. Sammy stopped, turning, and headed for the room. He could hear someone humming one of his songs.

“The key’s all wrong.” He said, unable to stop himself. The humming suddenly stopped. Very smart Sammy, correct the mysterious sound that might kill you. The door to the band room opened and standing there was…

“Henry?” Well, it sort of looked like Henry. The thing was a formless blob of ink wearing a white bowtie that sort of had Henry’s form and facial features.

“Sammy?” The thing that looked like Henry frowned. Its voice sounded like it was talking underwater. The next thing Sammy knew, he was being hit on the head with the head of an ax he hadn’t noticed Henry was carrying. When he woke up, he was tied to a post, in the middle of a pentagram, with Henry standing in front of him. The papers were nowhere to be seen, probably back in Sammy’s office. Henry was fingering the blade of the ax, leaving an inky smear every time he ran his finger across the blade.

“Henry, what the fuck?” Sammy spat. “Why am I fucking tied up?”

“Tell me, Sammy…” Henry said. “I draw the keys, you play the keys….But what do they unlock?”

“That’s pure gibberish, Henry.” Sammy said. “And you did not answer my question. Why. Am. I. Fucking. Tied. Up?” Henry didn’t immediately answer, turning away to inspect the pentagram. Sammy tried wriggling a little bit. Henry had tied him up fairly tightly, giving him little to no chance of escape. This was not the way he’d wanted to spend his day.

“What’re you gonna do, Henry? Summon Satan?” Sammy asked, falling back on his best weapon. Sarcasm. “Last time I checked the little shit was upstairs.”

“Bendy’s not important right now.” Henry said. “What important is figuring out how to fix everything. I have to make everything right.”

“And how’re you gonna do that?”

“By seeing what this does to you.” Henry grinned and held up a bucket of something Sammy assumed to be ink. What was he gonna do, get Sammy wet? Wasn’t like his clothes could get any more ruined than they already were.

“I’m going to unlock the door, Sammy.” Henry said, bringing the bucket closer. “Then I can make everything right.”

“You keep talking about making everything right. What do you mean?”

“I left them.” Henry paused, right in front of Sammy, the bucket held at chest level. “We all left them. Now they’re falling apart and it’s our fault. I’m going to fix this.” Then he pinched Sammy’s nose closed and poured the bucket’s contents down Sammy’s throat. Sammy tried to fight it, but Henry’s hand on his nose forced him to swallow. Almost immediately he felt his insides burning. He collapsed to his knees, coughing violently. Flecks of ink spattered to the ground. Henry stood back, beginning to light the candles.

“I made a model sheet for you.” He said. “You should take a look at it before it starts. That way you’ll have a defined form. I wouldn’t want you to end up like them.” He gestured back to the puddles of ink, from which featureless torsos, arms, and heads had risen. Sammy’s eyes widened. Was he going to end up like that? That couldn’t happen. He didn’t want to die. Not like this. This fucking studio…Everything bad in his life came from this studio.

“Sammy. Look at the sheet.” Henry’s voice was gentle, but firm as he shoved a piece of paper in front of Sammy’s face. Sammy focused on the drawings, trying to focus on that instead of the formless creatures. He was starting to sink into the ground, his body going gooey. Why had he decided to come back to this stupid studio?! Henry smiled and stepped back. Then the flames on the candles began to rise, engulfing everything. As the ink dripped over his eyes, everything faded to black.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And here's the first thing I ever wrote for BATIM. It's based off Yunisverse and Squigglydigglydoo's AU's where Henry becomes a toon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> T/W: Body Horror

The changes had started off small. Little flecks of black in his blood, less creaking of his joints, more energy. He didn’t think much of it in the beginning. As long as he could run away from the strange ink monsters and evade Bendy and whatever Sammy had become, he was perfectly happy to ignore anything strange that might be happening to his body. He had been wondering if he’d get ink poisoning from wading through all the ink, but it vanished quickly. He hadn’t realized the ink was seeping into his body, changing it from the inside out. He started coughing a lot. He chalked this up to the dusty studio at first. Then he’d started coughing up blood. This, of course, was cause for concern. He almost didn’t notice the flecks of black mixed in with the usual red in his panic. The coughing ceased after only an hour or so, although only after he’d vomited up something which’s contents he didn’t particularly want to guess at. It was black and almost like tar in its consistency, with lumps roughly the size and shape of human organs. The substance felt slick and oily passing his lips, nothing like normal vomit.

“Must be losing my damn mind.” He said to himself. This couldn’t possibly be real. But something in the back of his mind nagged at him as he continued through the abandoned studio. Somehow, he knew this wasn’t a dream, and if he left this place, he wouldn’t be the same person who came in.

.

.

As he walked, he noticed his skin was sagging even more than usual. Strange, but not too terribly scary. Sagging skin was a part of growing older, after all. He was pushing sixty now after all. When pulled at it, it came away as easily as if he were tearing tissue paper. Beneath was skin so white it didn’t look real. The new skin was slick and rubbery to the touch. Henry stared at his arm, at the stark white peeking out from in between shreds of papery flesh. For a moment, he couldn’t tear his eyes away from the sight. Then he began to claw at his arms, tearing away more and more of the tissue paperlike skin. It was like a snake shedding its skin. It wasn’t just on his arms either. The skin on his face suffered the same fate, as well as all other exposed skin.

“What on Earth?” He examined every part of his body that he could. Was it just him or did his fingers look rounder? So intent was Henry on investigating this, he fell into a sea of ink that had flooded a stairwell. He hadn’t even noticed he was coming up on it. He was completely submerged for a few moments, swallowing ink in his attempts to breathe. He surfaced gasping and coughing. Dragging himself out, he went about wringing out his clothes. Thankfully all traces of the tissue paper effect that had afflicted his skin was gone. Unfortunately, the stark white skin was all over his body now. He was thinner as well, as if his body had been simplified. Almost as if…s if he was a…cartoon. Henry shook his head quickly, dislodging some ink from his hair. No. That couldn’t be happening. It just wasn’t possible. And yet…he definitely didn’t look as human anymore. His skin was rubbery and malleable but snapped back to its shape every time he pinched himself. It showed no signs of bruising either, with no visible veins. Henry knew he was going to regret this, but he picked up the axe and set it against his arm. The blade bit into his flesh, opening up a wound. Instead of blood, black ink bubbled up from the cut. Henry’s heart stopped. Not only that, but the cut sealed itself up mere moments later. The ink droplets clung to Henry’s skin. He wiped them away quickly, noting that his clothing had turned black and white as well. All except his sweater vest, which remained a dull shade of grey. He took deep breaths to calm himself, fought back the panic and fear rising in his chest. It would be alright. He would figure a way out of this.

.

.

The next to change was his hands. Henry was horrified when he looked down and noticed he was missing a finger. One moment there were five, the next he was down to four. He looked almost completely like a toon now. Almost as though he would belong in one of Bendy’s cartoons. He had to fight the urge to go vomit in a corner. If he did, he’d only see more of that black ink. It had replaced everything in his body now. When he cried, that was what he saw staining his cheeks and hands.

“Keep it together.” He told himself, rubbing at his eyes. “There has to be some explanation for this.” When he withdrew his hands, he noticed his vision was going a bit blurry. He tried to blink it away, to no avail. He reached up to rub his eyes again, only to have his left eyeball pop out of its socket. It dropped to the ground, the red viscera that had held it in its socket stained black. Henry slapped a hand over his mouth in order to stifle the scream that was rising in his throat. The eyeball rolled into a puddle of ink, sinking down into the blackness. His eye had fallen out. Then the other eye followed suit. He felt it be pushed out, heard the snap as it detached. His hands went to his eyes, or where they’d previously been, feeling around. Something was growing in the sockets, filling them in. It felt like his flesh was closing them up. Suddenly his eyesight returned. He blinked a few times, looking around. Did the studio look different somehow? Henry knelt over the puddle of ink to get a good look at himself. Pie cut eyes stared back at him from an oversimplified version of his face. He looked just the way he had when he’d been working at Sillyvision. The grey in his hair was gone, as were his wrinkles and the slight stoop he’d developed from being hunched over drawing for all those years. He stood straight, although admittedly not very tall. He’d always been average height even on his best days. He would have been excited by his returned youth, if he wasn’t also a cartoon character now. Everything about him was simplified in a way that just made him feel distinctly uncomfortable. One of the other animators had once drawn him as a joke and it was frankly a little off-putting how close she’d gotten.

He was interrupted from his panic by a polite cough. When he turned, none other than Bendy the Dancing Demon stood behind him, leaning on a cane. His tail flicked back and forth lazily. He looked different in 3D than he did as a drawing on paper. Rounder, perhaps. Henry had never really grasped how short the demon actually was until now. Bendy seemed to barely be cracking 3 feet, shorter than most children Henry had come across. And yet, his creation oozed confidence in a way few people Henry knew could accomplish. He would have been proud had he not been so afraid.

“Enjoying your new body?” Bendy asked, grinning. “‘Cause I know I’m going to enjoy having a friend, especially after what yer pal Joey did to Boris.”

“What did you do to me?!” Henry demanded, hands opening and closing in an attempt to stop himself from running over and throttling the demon’s nonexistent neck.

“Me?” Bendy put a hand to his chest, looking rather surprised. “I didn’t do nothin’. It was the ink. Tends to have that effect on people nowadays. And boy howdy have you absorbed a lot of it.” Cold dread settled in the pit of Henry’s stomach. He’d been wading through that ink for hours trying to find his way out. Who knew how much of it was coursing through his system. If it was the ink that was causing this, then there was no way he was going to be able to get back to normal. He’d even swallowed some!

“This can’t be happening.” He muttered. “I don’t believe it.” He tried to come up with some way to explain it away, something to make himself feel better. But there was nothing. Nothing could explain away what had happened to him. Nothing but the ink.

“Oh you better believe it.” Bendy’s grin widened. “This is reality, pal. And you and I are going to be spending a looot of time together~”


	4. The Lampblack Girl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to write about Cordelia in the Lampblack City AU. 

 

Lampblack belongs to [@hazardgirl-art-blog](https://tmblr.co/myxObaJWU6qaKiBef5qCbXA), [@majorpepperidge](https://tmblr.co/m3LqP3MFDNiFMcT7L6YmMHA), [131-di](http://131-di.tumblr.com/). 

I hope I didn’t really screw up the characters.

* * *

Cordelia Bell had been in Lampblack City for about 20 years now, and she rather liked it there. It was far enough away from the studio that she didn’t think of the horrifying ordeal that visiting Sammy Lawrence had brought upon her, yet close enough to home that she could still visit her parents when the need arose. Life in Lampblack City was alright, aside from the cultists running around. Cordelia had gotten a job playing piano at an upscale bar, and occasionally providing music lessons to the humans and toons that resided in the city. Roy, with his half burned face, felt much less self-conscious in this place, and so he went out more often, even got a job as a bartender at the same bar Cordelia worked at. Cordelia worked days, Roy worked nights. They had a good life in the city. Then, one day, Cordelia came back to find her brother reading a letter.

“What’s that?” She asked, hanging up her coat.

“A letter.” He replied. “It was addressed to you.”

“Then why’d you open it?!” She tried to swipe it away from him, but he held it out of her reach.

“I thought it might’ve been him. But it’s just your old boss, Henry.” He said. “Now ask nicely or I won’t give it to you.”

Cordelia rolled her eyes. “Please can I have my letter?”

“That’s the spirit.” Roy grinned and handed it over.

“You are sixty something years old.” She muttered. “Why do you act like a teenage boy all the time?” She scanned the letter, her face lighting up. Roy already knew what the letter said, just leaning back in his chair.

“Mr. Lowe’s in the city! He’s in the city and he wants to see me!” She said, looking up at him with shining eyes.

“Apparently whatever ink’s going around turned those cartoons you used to love to life too.” He said. “Did you miss that part?”

“Used to love?” She screwed her face up. “I still love them! This is amazing!” She quickly wrote out a reply and mailed it out. She was more excited than Roy had seen her in months. He smiled softly as he watched her. This would be good for her.

Soon, Cordelia had set up a place to meet with Henry and the gang, and a time. She was so excited leading up to it that she could barely keep herself focused on her work. When the day came, she practically dragged Roy out to the park Henry had asked her to meet them at. The siblings sat at a park bench, waiting. Cordelia was chattering on about how long it had been, and would he even recognize her anymore? Then a familiar voice called out,

“Cordelia?” And there he was. He didn’t look all that different from what she remembered. His hair was maybe a little grayer, he was a little stockier, but all in all he was the same Henry she’d worked under.

“Mr. Lowe!” Cordelia’s face lit up and she ran over to hug Henry. “It’s so good to see your face again!”

“It’s good to see you too, Cordelia.” He said, patting her back. “You sure have grown up.”

“It has been thirty years.” She said, twisting a strand of hair between her fingers.

“You still look young for your age.” Roy leaned on his cane. Cordelia swatted his arm before turning back to Henry and the crew. Her heart was leaping out of her chest at seeing Bendy and Boris standing there before her, alive.

“So, this broad used to work with you or something?” Bendy asked, eyeing her warily.

“Yes. This is Cordelia Bell.” Henry explained. “She was an intern at the studio before things went sideways.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Cordelia curtsied. “I never thought I’d get to see Bendy and Boris in person.” She giggled. “I grew up watching you both. Alice too. It was your cartoons that got me into music.”

“Well,” Bendy immediately puffed up. “It’s always good to meet a fan.”

“We really appreciate it.” Boris said.

“And who are you two?” Cordelia turned her attention to the young woman and man, who appeared to be siblings.

“India Grzeskiewicz.” The young woman said, holding out her hand. “And this is my brother Godwin.”

“It’s lovely to meet you both.” Cordelia shook India’s hand enthusiastically. “I do hope we can be friends. I’ve been here 20 years, but I’m still working on making friends.”

“She works too hard.” Roy said. “Always pulling long shifts.”

“Who’s that?” Boris asked.

“Oh, silly me, this is my brother Roy.” Cordelia said. “He lives here with me.”

“Nobody cares about a freak with a burned face when there are literal cultists wandering around.” Roy said dryly. “That’s why I’m here.”

“Roy…” Cordelia’s sunny demeanor dimmed considerably.

“So you know about the cultists.” Henry’s shoulders slumped. “You didn’t…You’re not one of them, are you?”

“Why would she be one of them?” Boris asked. “She seems too nice for that.”

“I….I used to be Sammy’s biggest fan.” Cordelia drew into herself, stumbling back so Roy could put an arm around her shoulder. She was starting to hyperventilate, tears threatening to spill over. She had tried not to think about Sammy, tried not to think about the studio.

“We don’t talk about that man.” Roy’s voice was icy.

“What did he do to you?” Henry asked. Judging from her reaction, he assumed Sammy had done something to shatter her relationship with the former music director. Cordelia’s breathing quickened. She closed her eyes, starting to rock back and forth on her feet as she counted under her breath. After a few minutes of this, she opened her eyes again.

“I’m alright.” She said, although she was visibly shaking. “I can tell you what happened.”

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to.” India said.

“I’ll tell you.” Cordelia’s lips were set in a thin line. “I…I went back to the studio because he’d stopped answering my letters. I was worried. When I got there…I found him turned into that horrible ink monster. He called me his acolyte, said I would make a fine follower. When I tried to run…” She took a moment to compose herself. “When I tried to run he grabbed me by my hair and dragged me back. He tried to douse me in that ink. But I hit him with the butt of an ax and managed to run out, even with a broken ankle.”

“He broke her ankle to keep her from running a second time.” Roy said. “So no. We’re not too terribly fond of him.”

“Why don’t we get some coffee?” Henry suggested. “We can go back to the house.”

“That sounds lovely.” Cordelia nodded, pulling her coat tighter around her.

The group headed back to the Grzeskiewicz house. India took Cordelia into a different room, citing the need for ‘girl time’. Really, it was mostly because she could see the older woman was clearly not alright and needed some time alone. However, as India turned to leave, Cordelia grabbed her arm.

“If…If you wouldn’t mind, I’d like to talk to you.” She said quietly.

“Alright. Just let me get you some coffee.” India said. She left the room, returning a few minutes later with two cups of coffee. Cordelia gladly accepted hers, adding in cream and sugar before sipping at it.

“Thank you.” She sighed and sat back in her chair. “I needed that.”

“No problem.” India sat down opposite her. “So….Did you want to talk?”

“That would be nice.” Cordelia nodded. “Um…If you wouldn’t mind me asking, what happened to you?”

“I died.” India’s response was curt. “My brother brought me back using the ink. That’s it.”

“Ah. I apologize for prying.” Cordelia toyed with her cup. The two women sat in silence for a few minutes before Cordelia started talking again.

“I don’t hate him.” She said.

“Hate who?” India asked, even though she knew full well who Cordelia was referring to.

“Sammy. He wasn’t a good man, even before this, but I….I cared about him.” Cordelia admitted, sipping her coffee. “He was like an uncle to me. He encouraged me to follow my dreams while realistically telling me how hard it would be.” She could feel the tears rising up again. “I thought it would get easier. I thought I’d start to hate him, especially for the cult.” She looked up at India with pleading eyes. “Is it wrong that I don’t hate him?”

“You really don’t hate him?” India asked, a little puzzled by this response.

“Every time I try I remember the first letter he sent me. I remember his kindness at the studio and I…I just can’t hate him.” Cordelia’s whole body seemed to deflate. She looked defeated.

“I guess it’s hard to have to see someone you love go down such a dark path.” India chose her words carefully. She wasn’t overly fond of Sammy Lawrence, especially after everything he’d done, but Cordelia obviously still loved Sammy like family. India couldn’t understand it, personally, but she wasn’t about to tell Cordelia how she should feel. It wasn’t her place.

“I know you dislike him. You don’t need to hide it.” Cordelia said with a wry smile. “I’m very sorry. I shouldn’t have unloaded all this on you. It wasn’t right.”

“It’s alright.” India assured her. “You seem like a nice lady. I’m happy to talk to you.” It was certainly interesting meeting one of Henry’s old coworkers. Henry seldom talked about the studio to anyone, especially when it came to his former coworkers.

“You’re very kind.” Cordelia smiled softly. She pushed her chair out and got up.

“Roy and I should probably be going. I have work tomorrow.” She dusted off her dress. “It was lovely meeting you, India. I hope we can meet again.” She left the room, finding her brother and departing.

“You think we’ll see them again?” Bendy asked.

“I would like to talk with her again.” Henry said, finishing his coffee. “It’s been awhile and I want to catch up with her properly.” And that was that.


	5. Chapter 5

**[dreamnoteprincess](https://dreamnoteprincess.tumblr.com/) asked: Angst/Fluff: “Don’t you give up on me.”**

Decided to write in [@yunisverse](https://tmblr.co/mRGj3hUquKMYprA0_Sc5RnA) ‘s [Rubberhose AU](http://yunisverse.tumblr.com/tagged/rubberhose+au).

* * *

 

Henry liked to imagine that once he’d been a hopeful person. Before Joey, before everything that had happened here at the studio. But he was tired now. Tired and old and trapped in the body of a toon. Every day he found himself forgetting his life outside the studio. He’d been talking with Alice and realized he didn’t remember his children’s names. They’d come back to him, of course, but for a few terrifying moments….He didn’t know who his children were. Henry had tried not to think too much on his predicament, but it was hard not to when he was forgetting who he was. He slipped out of the room as soon as he could, going to his old desk. He sat with his back against the wall, head in his hands. He couldn’t stop staring at his four-fingered hands. He felt like crying, but knew if he did he’d only see more black ink.

“Hey, you alright?”

“Go away, Bendy.” Henry said half-heartedly. He wasn’t in the mood to deal with the little demon at the moment. He was too tired. Bendy frowned, folding his arms and walking over.

“Geez, what’s up with you?” He asked. “You look like someone died or somethin’.”

“I’m going to die, pretty soon.” Henry said.

“Psh! No, you’re not!” Bendy slapped his back. “C’mon, being a toon ain’t that bad!”

“I’ll die, Bendy.” Henry said, looking solemnly up at the demon. “Everything I am, it’ll be gone. I’ll cease to exist, reduced to nothing but a punchline.”

“You’re talking like there’s no hope.” Bendy’s cheerful demeanour was faltering quite a bit. They could both tell that the demon was struggling to stay positive.

“I mean, what’s the point?” Henry asked, his shoulders slumping. “I’m never getting out of here. I’m not some big hero. I can’t save all of you.”

“Don’t you give up on me.” Bendy said. Henry frowned, looking towards the demon. Bendy’s expression was surprisingly solemn. It was something Henry had never actually seen from the little demon.

“You keep telling us not to just give up, so neither can you.” Bendy jabbed a finger into Henry’s chest. “Don’t be the hypocrite I think you are, Henry. Prove me wrong.”

“That’s….Thanks.” Henry nodded slowly. “I really appreciate it.”

“Don’t mention it.” Bendy said. “I mean it. Don’t. Alice’ll never let me hear the end of it if she finds out I said somethin’ like that.”

Henry smiled despite himself. “I won’t tell her. I promise.”

“Good.” Bendy held out his hand. “Now let’s keep trying, okay?” Henry took his hand and got to his feet.

“Okay.”


	6. Chapter 6

**[disneyphantomlover](http://disneyphantomlover.tumblr.com/) asked: Angst/Fluff prompt: "Get away from me." (Love to see what you write for this!)**

Thank you so much! I really appreciate it!

* * *

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Those words kept running through Cordelia’s mind as she ran through the studio. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Behind her, she could hear Sammy following. The Sammy she’d known had been far from a perfect person, but he hadn’t been a monster. This creature…This  _thing_ wasn’t human.  ****Her breath was coming in ragged gasps, her lungs and throat burning.

“My dear acolyte, where are you going?” Sammy’s sing-song voice echoed through the empty halls. She didn’t say anything, trying to run faster. Her body was starting to give out. She couldn’t let him catch her. Couldn’t let him turn her into what he’d become. Images of the gutted Boris’ and that “Alice” flashed through her mind. Just what had happened to everyone here? What had Joey done?  ****Her brief moment of thought took her attention off the hallway, which meant she didn’t notice the board in her path. She tripped, falling to the ground. Hard. Her knees and elbows were scraped, and she was certain her nose was bruised. Her ankle twisted painfully, cracking loudly.

“There you are, my sheep.” Sammy quickly closed the distance between them, standing above her like the dark prophet he’d become. 

“Get away from me!” She yelled, trying to scoot back. 

“Don’t be like that, my acolyte.” Sammy smiled, sharp teeth visible even behind the mask. “You will help me spread the word of our Lord.” 

“No! Get away!” She tried to get to her feet to run again but fell to the ground again with a pained gasp. Sammy grabbed her by the wrist, lifting her up and slinging her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

“You’ll be coming with me now.” He said. “Now come along.”

“Put me down!” She screamed, kicking and hitting him. She couldn’t get off any proper hits, though. There was something sickening about touching Sammy’s body. It was viscous and almost gooey. It made her want to vomit. Eventually, she stopped fighting, going limp as she was carried to the Ink Machine room. She wasn’t going to get out of this, was she? This was the end. 


	7. Tattoo Nightmare Pt 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cordelia goes to get a tattoo and Joshua ends up getting a date. Starring @Gears112's oc's Nancy Lawrence and Joshua Foster.

She couldn’t believe she was doing this. She shouldn’t be doing this. And yet, here she was, clutching a photograph against her chest. She took a deep breath and headed into the tattoo parlour. Nancy looked up, surprise registering on her face when she saw it was Cordelia standing in the doorway.

“What are you doing here?” Nancy asked. 

“I want to get a tattoo!” Cordelia blurted out. Nancy raised an eyebrow at this. Of all the people she’d expected to see come into her parlour, her brother’s intern was not one of them. The girl was possibly the most squeaky clean person she’d ever met. Still, if the girl wanted a tattoo, Nancy wasn’t going to turn her down just because of her image. 

“I mean, um, I would like to get a tattoo.” Cordelia repeated. “I...Bendy told me about how Joshua got a tattoo honoring his father and Henry and I....I wanted to get a tattoo honoring my family.” With shaking hands, she held out the crumpled photograph. It was a family portrait. The last family portrait they’d ever taken. She and her mother were seated, while Roy and her father stood behind them. All four of them were dressed in their Sunday best. Roy looked tired, but he was still smiling as he had his hands on Cordelia’s shoulders. 

“My parents died a few years ago,” Cordelia explained as Nancy looked over the photograph. “And...I want to remember when we were a family. I want to feel like they’ll always be with me.”

“Have you thought this through?” Nancy asked, slipping into business mode. “This is permanent, you know. You can’t get rid of it.” Not to mention, Nancy didn’t particularly feel like having Cordelia’s overprotective brother, and maybe even her own, coming down and yelling at her for this.

“I’ve thought it through.” Cordelia nodded. “The photograph can be lost or destroyed. I want this  _ because _ it’s forever, so I’ll always remember that we were all happy once.” 

“Well, alright then.” Nancy pulled out some waivers. “Just sign these and we’ll get started. I’ll give this to Joshy to get a sketch.” She started to the back, then paused. “Where do you want it?”

“My back,” Cordelia replied. Nancy nodded and went to the back, grinning to herself. Joshua was sitting at his drawing table, sketching up a few tattoos for their various clients. 

“Joshy~” Nancy waltzed up behind him. “Guess who just showed up~”

“Please tell me  _ she’s  _ not here.” Joshua groaned, burying his head in his hands. “I can’t face her after the last time.”

“Well, you’re gonna have to.” Nancy patted his back. “She’s a paying customer.”

“Wha- Seriously?!” Like Nancy, Joshua had never expected to actually see the music department intern in the tattoo department. That first time had been a fluke, she’d been drawn there by the mischievous toons and Henry himself, but Joshua hadn’t expected to see her a second time. He sure as Hell hadn’t been planning on going back to the studio for a good long while. 

“Seriously.” Nancy held out Cordelia’s photograph. “She wants a tattoo of this. She said Bendy told her about your dog tag tattoo and she wanted to honour her family like that.”

“Well...If she’s a customer.” Joshua took the photograph and settled back down at his desk. 

“Attaboy!” Nancy slapped his back. “Go get her!” 

“I can’t believe you’re making me do this.” Joshua groaned, taking down a fresh sheet of paper. 

“She’s a paying customer,” Nancy called back as she left the room. In the waiting room, Cordelia was quietly and dutifully filling out the waivers. 

“It’ll be a few hours for him to get out a sketch.” Nancy settled back at the reception desk. 

“Thank you,” Cordelia said quietly. 

“No problem, sweetie,” Nancy said. They spent a few more minutes in silence before Nancy tried to start up a conversation. 

“So, what made you want to work with my brother, anyway?” She asked.

“I had a little bit of a crush on him when I was little,” Cordelia admitted. “I...I wrote him a lot of fan letters.” She set the pen down to cover her face. “It’s embarrassing, really. I couldn’t write all that well, and I drew little bells next to my name...”

“That’s actually really cute.” Nancy couldn’t help but laugh. “I think he might still have those.” Cordelia went bright red, hiding behind the clipboard. Nancy laughed harder. It was so easy to get reactions out of this girl. She was just so cute. Nancy could understand why her brother saw this girl as like another little sister. 

“I really like your tattoos,” Cordelia said after a few more minutes of silence. 

“Thanks.”

“You made yourself a work of art.”

“That’s a nice way to look at it.” Nancy’s smile softened. “It’s certainly better than people telling me I’m going to Hell for this kind of thing.”

“Oh, no! You’re way too nice to go to Hell!” Cordelia shook her head quickly. 

“I’d argue otherwise,” Joshua muttered, emerging from the back. 

Nancy stuck her tongue out at him. “Well if I’m going to Hell, then so are you.”

“I never said I wasn’t,” Joshua said. 

“You really shouldn’t be so hard on yourselves,” Cordelia said. “I’m sure neither of you is going to Hell.”

“It’s a joke, don’t worry,” Nancy assured her with a smile. 

“Ah, alright.” Cordelia flushed again. 

“I’ve got the sketch, if you want to see it.” Joshua held the sketch out, along with the photograph Cordelia had given them. Cordelia took the sketch, and their hands touched for a brief moment. Both of them blushed and Cordelia retreated to the couch to look over the sketch. 

“It’s beautiful.” She whispered, beginning to tear up a little. “I love it.” She looked up at Joshua with wonderment. “Thank you so much.”

“Ah, um, thanks.” Joshua shrugged a little, scratching the back of his head. “You really shouldn’t thank me until it’s on you, though.”

“Right.” Suddenly Nancy was all business again. “Do you want it done today or would you like to come back another time?”

“I’ll do it now.” Cordelia said, a determined look on her face. “Roy’s not going to get to talk me out of this. I want to remember them this way.” Joshua found him staring dreamily at her, but he quickly tried to dispel this. Evidently, he hadn’t done it quickly enough, because he found Nancy giving him a huge grin. 

“Why don’t you two go on back?” She asked, continuing to grin at both of them. Joshua gave Nancy a desperate look as Cordelia walked past him. 

“You two can have some quality time together.” Nancy’s smile only widened at Joshua’s reaction to this whole thing. Joshua tried not to groan, following Cordelia into the tattoo room. Cordelia was standing awkwardly in the middle of the room. 

“You’re, um, you’re going to have to take your shirt off.” Joshua looked everywhere but at Cordelia, who went bright red. Instead, he busied himself with setting up the tattoo equipment. He just had to focus on the job at hand, not her. 

“Oh, uh, right, of course.” She laughed nervously. He turned away until she was settled on the cot, her bare back readily accessible. She’d tied her hair in a ponytail and draped it over her shoulder so it was out of the way. He got to work shaving the area and laying the design out. 

“You’re not sensitive to pain, are you?” He asked. It was easier if he wasn’t looking at her face. Still, she was no less enticing from the back. 

“No.” She shook her head.  

“Alright.” She flinched a little when he put the tattoo gun to her skin, but there were no tears. She stayed fairly still as he worked. He couldn’t help but notice how soft her skin was and the freckles dotting her back. They were quiet for a long time, neither sure what to say to the other.

“I don’t want to be an intern forever,” Cordelia said, her chin resting on her hands. “Someday, I’m going to go back to school and become a music teacher.” 

“That’s cool,” Joshua said. He could see her as a teacher. She was kind and patient from what he’d seen but wasn’t lacking in terms of backbone. 

“I know, it’s kind of a stupid goal.” She laughed a little. “But I want to be to other people what Sammy was for me. He taught me how to love music.

“I don’t think it’s stupid.” Joshua shook his head. “If teaching is something you’re really passionate about, you should go for it.”

“Is tattooing something you’re passionate about?” She glanced back at him over her shoulder. 

“I wouldn’t be working here if I wasn’t.” He said with a laugh. 

“You must really love art.” Her eyes roved around the small room, the walls peppered with sketches. “Your art is beautiful.” 

“Thanks.” It took everything he had not to stutter it out. 

“I’ve been trying to get the drawing you did framed.” She continued, her voice getting soft. “It’s one of the nicest things anyone’s ever given me.” 

“You’re going to make me blush.” He said, almost jokingly. 

“I mean it.” She buried face in her hands. “And, um, if it’s okay with you...I’d maybe like to go out to lunch with you sometime.”

Joshua had to stop tattooing for a moment to get his composure back. Had...Had he just been asked out? Had she just asked him out? Cordelia made a high pitched noise, pulling at her hair. 

“I’m sorry. That was stupid. I shouldn’t have-”

“No, it’s okay.” He said quickly. “I, uh, I’d like that.”

“You would?” Cordelia looked up at him with wide eyes. Joshua nodded. Both of them were bright red. He finished the tattoo and let her get a good look at it. The second Cordelia saw it, she was in tears. She threw her arms around Joshua, sobbing and thanking him, oblivious to the fact that she still wasn’t wearing a shirt. Joshua respectfully pointed this out and Cordelia quickly put her shirt back on. 

“Sooo~ How’d it go?” Nancy asked once Cordelia had left, having happily paid. 

“We’re...We’re going out to lunch sometime.” Joshua said, unable to stop smiling. 

“No. Way.” Nancy’s smile could have split her face. “You actually got a date with her?!”

“She suggested it, actually.” 

“We have to get you ready for this. Come on.”


	8. Tattoo Nightmare Pt 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sammy and Roy find out about Cordelia's tattoo. Featuring @Gears112's Joshua and Nancy again.

Cordelia tried her best to sneak into the house unnoticed after getting back from the tattoo shop. She felt like a teenager sneaking back past her curfew, despite being in her 20’s at this point. Unfortunately, Roy was waiting for her in the living room, reading the newspaper. He looked up over the paper. 

“So, where’ve you been?” He asked calmly, folding the paper. “I’m aware you’re not required to tell me where you are at every moment of every day, but it would be nice to know why you’ve been gone all day.” Might as well just rip off the bandage.

“I got a tattoo.” She said. “From that parlour owned by Sammy’s younger sister and the boy who mows Henry’s lawn.”

“You...What?” Roy stared at her, dumbfounded. 

“I heard Bendy talking about how Joshua got a tattoo to commemorate his father and Henry and I...I wanted to do that for our parents.” She said. “I want to remember when we were all a family.” Roy kept staring at her. He didn’t feel strongly about tattoos on other people. If they wanted to do that, it was their choice. He even thought tattoos were beautiful on others. But this was his little sister. He’d seen how people with tattoos were treated by others. He’d seen the way Father Lawrence treated people with tattoos. Their family was already in hot water with the preacher due to Roy’s former profession as an actor. The only reason the preacher didn’t outright condemn them was because of how innocent Cordelia could seem.

“Please tell me you thought this through.” He said, running a hand through his hair. 

“I thought it through.” She assured him. “The photograph can be lost or destroyed. This is forever.” Roy nodded slowly, getting to his feet. 

“Can I see it?” He asked. 

“The form told me to wait to take the bindings off for a day,” Cordelia explained. “So...Maybe later? It also says I need to wash it with soap and I don’t think I can reach it.” 

Roy sighed heavily, but he was smiling slightly. “Well...I don’t want it to get infected.”

“That would be bad.” Cordelia agreed. “So...You can see it tomorrow.” And with that, she went back to her bedroom, presumably to read or work on her homework. She’d been taking some night classes in order to work towards her teaching degree. Roy took a few deep breaths. Cordelia was allowed to make her own decisions. She was an adult. But boy was he angry with this Joshua Foster kid. If there was one thing he’d learned, it was that you didn’t want to stick out in this world. He was beyond hope, but Cordelia still seemed normal. And now she was forever branded as someone different from the rest. He picked up his paper again. Maybe he’d wait until Sammy found out to visit the tattoo parlor. Still, he wanted to call Henry up. He went to the phone, dialling Henry’s number and waiting. 

“Hello?” Henry said as he picked up. 

“Hello, Henry. It’s Roy.”

“Oh, Roy. Why are you calling?” Henry was honestly a bit perplexed. Roy didn’t often call him or anyone else. The eldest Bell sibling kept to himself most of the time.

“Cordelia got a tattoo.”

For a moment, Henry was silent. “I see.” He finally said. “And you’re calling me about this because...?”

“Because your man Joshua was the inspiration behind it,” Roy said. “Apparently Bendy told her about his tattoo honouring you and Jonathan and she wanted to honour our parents the same way.”

“Look, please don’t intimidate him.” Henry said. “I get that you’re probably pretty pissed, but Cordelia can make her own decisions and-”

“I’m not going to intimidate him.” Roy assured him, his voice never deviating from its calm, almost monotonous rhythm. “Not yet, at least. I’m just warning you that things might get a bit messy when Sammy finds out.”

“Right. I’ll warn him.” Henry said. “Um, thanks.”

“But I will intimidate him later.” 

“I know. See you later, Roy.”

Then he hung up, just in time for Cordelia to come running in, her face flushed. She had a few dresses in her arms. 

“AlsoImighthaveaskedJoshuaonadateokaygoodbye.” She said before running off again. Roy could only stare at her. Oh, he was definitely going to intimidate Joshua Foster now.

.

.

The next day proceeded fairly normally. Cordelia and Roy both went to their respective jobs, the tattoo almost forgotten. Until, that is, Sammy noticed a strange black peeking out from under Cordelia’s shirt. 

“What’s that?” Sammy asked. 

Cordelia turned around, her arms full of papers. “What’s what?” 

“There’s something on your back.” Sammy frowned, getting up from his desk. “It looks like ink. Did you get ink down your shirt or something?” Cordelia froze. She knew she should have worn her button up instead of the off the shoulder shirt. 

“No.” She took a deep breath. “I...I got a tattoo. But  _ don’t _ freak out!” For a moment, it seemed as though he wouldn’t. Then his face started to go red. 

“You did what?!” He roared. 

“I said don’t freak out!” She put the papers down. 

“Was this that Foster kid’s idea?!” Sammy stalked towards her. “I knew I shouldn’t have let him come around here!”

“Why are you freaking out about this?” Cordelia put her hands up. “Your sister has tattoos too!”

“Wait...You’ve met Nancy?” 

“....Yes.” Cordelia mentally kicked herself. “After...After Joshua showed up at the studio, the toons wanted to go follow him and we ended up at the Ink Spectre Parlor. Nancy was there and...well...We met her. Henry said we weren’t supposed to mention it, so I’m sorry.”

“It...It’s fine.” Sammy pinched the bridge of his nose. “God, I am going to kill her for this. She  _ let  _ you get a tattoo.” He started to head for the door. 

“She made sure I thought it out.” Cordelia followed after him. “They didn’t do anything wrong. Sammy!” But he was already putting on his coat.

“I’m going over there.”

“Sammy, I’m not a little kid!” She yelled, running after him. “I’m allowed to make this decision! Sammy!” Before she could stop him, he was up the stairs and out the door. 

“What’s all the racket about?” Susie asked, coming out of the band room.

“Sammy found out I got a tattoo.” Cordelia groaned, burying her head in her hands. “Joshua is going to hate me for this.”

“You got a tattoo?!” All of a sudden, the toons popped up. 

“Can I see?” Bendy hopped up and down. 

“Is it of us?” Alice asked. “Nancy has tattoos of us!”

“It’s my family.” Cordelia tried not to groan more. “Bendy told me about Joshua’s tattoo for his father and I wanted one like that too.”

“That’s really sweet,” Susie said, putting a hand over her heart.

“It’s on my back, so you can’t see it right now.” Cordelia continued. “Right now I need to make sure Sammy doesn’t kill Joshua.” 

“I’ll come too.” Susie followed as Cordelia ran for the door. 

“I don’t get why he’s freaking out,” Cordelia said as they headed for the tattoo parlour. “His sister has tattoos!”

“Oh, so you’ve met Nancy.” Susie only looked mildly surprised. “I really like her.”

“Yes, she’s very nice. But why is he freaking out like this?!”

“Well, you’re like a little sister to him.”

“HIS ACTUAL SISTER HAS TATTOOS!”

“Lower your voice, dear.” 

“Right...Sorry.” Cordelia sighed, slowing down a little. “I just...I don’t get why he’s treating me like this. Roy didn’t freak out, and he’s always crazy protective of me.”

“Well, you may be an adult now, but he’s known you since you were a little kid.” Susie put a hand on Cordelia’s shoulder. “I think he still sees you as the child who wrote him all those fan letters.”

“That...Actually makes a lot of sense.” They were getting close to the tattoo parlour now, and both women could clearly hear the telltale sounds of Sammy yelling. Susie sighed. 

“I guess we’ll have to calm him down.” She said. 

“This’ll be fun,” Cordelia muttered. Once they got there, Roy was waiting out front, smoking a cigarette. 

“Roy!” Cordelia swatted the cigarette out of his hand. “I thought you were trying to quit!”

“I am.” Roy looked just the slightest bit irritated. “I just...really needed a smoke.”

“Sammy dragged you along?” Susie asked. It wasn’t really a question. They all knew the answer. A simple nod from Roy confirmed it though. 

“For fuck’s sake.” Cordelia ran her hands through her hair. Taking a deep breath, she stormed in. Sammy was in the reception area yelling at Joshua and Nancy while Nancy tried to keep the peace. 

“Why did you let her get a tattoo?!” Sammy demanded. 

“She’s a grown woman, Sammy!” Nancy yelled. “She’s allowed to make her own decisions! I mean, Jesus, when did you turn into Dad?!”

“You did not just say that.” Sammy’s expression darkened. 

“CUT IT OUT!” Cordelia yelled. Everyone stopped and stared at her. Cordelia took a deep breath and put her hands on her hips. Roy had slipped in to stand beside her, with Susie on Cordelia’s other side.

“Sammy, you are a grown-ass man.” Cordelia scolded him as one would an unruly child. “You should not be behaving this way.”

“But-”

“But nothing.” She cut him off. “I am not a damsel in need of a hero, Sammy. I appreciate that you want to keep me safe, but I’m not a child. This was my decision to make and I thought it through. So thank you, but get your shit together, Lawrence.” Sammy deflated a little, looking rather sheepish. 

“That’s my sister for you.” Roy smiled and patted her shoulder, careful not to touch her back.

“Sorry,” Sammy muttered, avoiding looking at her. 

“I don’t think I’ve heard you apologize in a while,” Nancy said, grinning like the Cheshire Cat. “She really must be your baby, huh?” Joshua was just staring in wonderment at Cordelia. 

“Also, I’m going on a date with Joshua and there’s nothing you can do to stop me!” Cordelia went bright red and left the parlour quickly.

“You better not screw this up. Because if you break her heart, I will find you. And I will kill you.” Roy gave Joshua  _ a look _ before leaving himself. Susie started squealing, clapping her hands together. Sammy turned to Joshua and gave him almost the exact same look Roy had. 

“Alright, we should go now.” Susie grabbed his arm, noticing the look, and dragged him out. Sammy kept giving Joshua the look the whole way out.

“Well, that could’ve gone worse,” Nancy said. 

“Sammy is going to kill me.” Joshua groaned. 


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A prompt from @MsFaust using the Fleewood Mac song The Chain

_ Listen to the wind blow _

_ Watch the sun rise _

_ Run in the shadows _

_ Damn your love _

_ Damn your lies _

Sammy had always been kind to her. Even if a second before he had been yelling at some poor intern, he’d never yelled at her. He’d smothered her with kind words and kisses, praising her talent and her beauty. When she’d been with him, she’d felt like the most important woman in the world. She was the exception to the rule. Sammy Lawrence was never prickly with her. He was always a complete gentleman. She was special. The one person Samuel Lawrence would never be cruel to. Susie had never considered herself a proud person, but she always found herself feeling superior to others in the studio in this way. She was special. She was exempt from the wrath of the irate music director. 

_ And if you don't love me now _

_ You will never love me again _

_ I can still hear you saying _

_ You would never break the chain. _

He’d promised he’d never leave her. He’d promised! They’d even talked about maybe getting married someday. Sure, Susie had been dumped before, but she’d thought Sammy was a gentleman. She hadn’t expected him to step out on her with Allison Pendle! The girl was nothing more than an intern! An intern he’d yelled at before! She wasn’t special like Susie was. The worst part was that Allison had taken her role too! In an instant, Susie’s role and her boyfriend were gone. Sammy insisted he hadn’t been stepping out on her, but Susie knew the truth. She kept telling herself that she wasn’t jealous. She wasn’t blowing this out of proportion. 

_ Listen to the wind blow _

_ Down comes the night _

_ Run in the shadows _

_ Damn your love _

_ Damn your lies _

Sammy Lawrence was a liar. He’d told her Alice would be bigger than Bendy. But she had been a total flop. He’d told her she did Alice better than anyone else. But she’d been replaced. He’d told her he’d never leave her. But he did. He’d betrayed her for an  _ intern _ . An intern! Interns came and went. They were replaceable. She would have tried to get Allison fired, but even Joey had abandoned her. He’d moved on to a newer, younger model. The nerve of that man! 

_ Break the silence _

_ Damn the dark _

_ Damn the light _

She’d left the studio after cursing out everyone. Sammy had tried to stop her. She didn’t know why. He’d made it clear he didn’t want her anymore, hadn’t he? Life looked up after she left Joey Drew Studios. She got other voice acting jobs, but none of them connected with her the way Alice had. She thought of the studio every day. She couldn’t help but feel a small hint of joy when she heard the studio was failing. Joey shouldn’t have fired her, she thought. Still, she jumped when she received the letter from him inviting her back. It had been a mistake to return though.

_ And if you don't love me now _

_ You will never love me again _

_ I can still hear you saying _

_ You would never break the chain. _

She was going to be the perfect Alice, no matter what. She would do whatever it took to be perfect. Sammy was barely a memory, although she did think of him often. Maybe one day, she’d find him in this place. She’d heard him on the other levels, praising Bendy. He thought the Ink Demon could set him free. What a fool. Bendy wouldn’t set Sammy free. She could do that for him, as she’d done for herself. But he wasn’t worthy of her help. He had betrayed her and he didn’t deserve the secret to perfection. She couldn’t help but cry when she heard his voice though. She missed him. Allison missed him. Susie steeled her heart. She would be perfect. No matter what. 


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Happy prompts from @MsFaust.

-“I’m going to jail. Damnit, I’m going to jail.”

-“At least it’s just a levitation spell.”

-“So lemme get this straight: this machine gets thrown out of whack, the guy gets hit by lightning, and now he’s super fast?”

 

* * *

 

There was about a week until Sammy’s wedding, and the boys of the studio were taking Sammy out for a bachelor party. He knew, immediately, that this was not a good idea.

“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” Susie assured him. 

“You’re just saying that because you’re partying with the sane people,” Sammy said. “Joey’s organizing this.  _ Joey _ !”

“Well, Henry will be there too.” Susie pointed out. “I’m sure he’ll keep everyone in check.”

“You say that like he’s going to stay sober the whole night.” Sammy was trying his very hardest not to pull out a cigarette. Susie had asked him to quit smoking for the wedding so he was trying.

“Sweetie, just relax.” Susie kissed his cheek. “Just have fun, cut loose! It’ll be alright.”

“Well...If you say so.”

It was not alright. The night started out fine. They met up at the studio because of course Henry was working overtime. The bachelor party consisted of Wally, Sammy, Henry, Joey, Roy, and Shawn. Thomas and Grant had politely declined, perhaps anticipating how terribly the night was going to end. They were having a date night of their own anyway. Norman was off visiting family, so he couldn’t come. Susie went off with Cordelia, Allison, and some other female employees to have their own party. 

“Have fun, stay safe~” She said as she and the other women left the building. 

“So, what do you have planned?” Sammy asked, turning to Joey. Joey just grinned, which was frankly a terrible sign. 

“Oh, I have a few ideas.”

In retrospect, Sammy really should have asked for more specifics. But Susie had told him to relax and to have fun, so he did. Joey took them to a little hole in the wall bar that looked like something out of a noir film. 

“This place used to be a speakeasy,” Joey said brightly as they walked in. “I almost got arrested a bunch of times here.”

“That’s....nice,” Sammy said slowly. 

“Joey, this doesn’t seem appropriate for a bachelor party,” Henry said, tugging at Joey’s sleeve. 

“Nonsense! It’s a fine place for a party!” Joey then waltzed right up to the bar and ordered something none of them could hear. 

“We’re going to get arrested by the end of the night,” Roy said. Up until this point, he hadn’t spoken a word, simply looming above everyone else. 

“We’re not gonna get arrested!” Wally laughed nervously. “Right?”

“We won’t.” Henry tried to assure them. They found a table and sat down, Joey coming up to them a few minutes later with a bottle of suspicious looking green alcohol. 

“Drink up everyone!” He said. None of them trusted this alcohol, but no one had the courage to say no to Joey. So they all downed their shots. This was a mistake. As it turned out, the alcohol was absinthe, because of course Joey would try to fuck them up with the fucking Green Fairy drink. About an hour later they were out on the street, singing loudly and stumbling around. Shawn and Wally kept trying to get into fights, while Joey hung all over Henry. Roy seemed sober, but it was hard to tell with him, honestly. He just kept staring at people and muttering to himself. Sammy found himself feeling rather giddy. He was just...happy. He didn’t understand why he was so happy. Things only started to go downhill once Wally and Shawn tried fighting a couple police officers. 

“Alright, gentleman. You’re going to have to come with us.” The officer said. That was when Roy stepped up, opened his mouth, then vomited all over the police officer. After this, he fell over. Joey started giggling for some reason, clapping his hands and pointing at the fallen man. The officers just sighed and got the men into the car. 

“I’m going to jail. Damnit, I’m going to jail.” Sammy muttered. “I knew letting you organize the party was a bad idea, Joey!” Joey just giggled louder, ending up full on cackling. Henry had started sobbing about how he couldn’t go to jail. In the other car, Wally and Shawn were trying to kick each other while Roy lay slumped in between them. 

The next thing Sammy knew, he was waking up on a bench with a horrible headache. Sitting up and looking around, he found he was in a holding cell. Henry was sleeping on a bench not too far away, draped over Joey. Wally and Shawn were on the floor and Roy was leaning against the bars. On the other side of the bars were Susie, Allison, and Cordelia. Susie did not look happy in the slightest. 

“Joey.” She said, folding her arms. Joey looked up, very much resembling a small child caught doing something they shouldn’t have. 

“Hello, Susie.” He smiled weakly. “What are you doing here?”

“Bailing out your asses,” Susie said. “Apparently you were booked for drunken and disorderly conduct.”

“He gave us absinthe,” Roy said, trying his hardest to pull his hat over his eyes. 

“Fucking absinthe?!” Sammy yelled, waking up everyone else in the cell, resulting in a cacophony of groans.

“I-It seemed like a good idea.” Joey put his hands up. “I thought things would get interesting.”

“Mm-hm.” Susie pursed her lips, a perfect picture of disapproval. “You’re paying me back for this, Drew.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Now come on. I paid your bail.” 

Everyone latched onto someone else as they made their way out of the cell. It certainly was a night they were going to remember for a long time. It would also be used as evidence as to why Joey was not allowed to plan any kind of party outside of the studio ever again. Roy didn’t set foot anywhere near the studio for nearly two months afterwards.

.

.

Joey was practising spells. Again. This was not a good thing. Especially not since he was testing the spells out on unsuspecting employees. They found this out when Grant suddenly found himself floating out of his chair and onto the ceiling. For a moment, the accountant just sighed. Then he began to curse at the top of his lungs. People were soon drawn to his office by the loud cursing. 

“I TOLD YOU HE WAS REAL!” Wally yelled, pointing at the man plastered to the ceiling. 

“Sweet Jesus!” Shawn shrieked. “Why is he on the ceiling?”

“Because Joey’s dipping into the black magic again,” Thomas said. He’d been in the vicinity when Grant had started floating and thus had gotten a pole to try and get the man down. Grant finally stopped swearing, but he was red in the face. 

“I am going to kill him once I get my hands on him,” Grant growled. No one had ever seen him this angry before. Few people had ever seen him at all. 

“Should I go talk to him?” Henry asked. 

“That’d probably be a good idea.” Thomas nodded as he tied Grant to his chair. “I’ll take care of Grant.” 

“Alright, everyone, back to work,” Henry said, trying to disperse the employees. “Nothing to see here. Just more of Joey’s bullshit.”

“I hate working for him,” Grant muttered, angrily going back to the finances. 

“We all do,” Thomas said as Henry made his way to Joey’s office. When he entered, he found Joey in the middle of a pentagram, chanting over a thick tome. 

“Oh, hello Henry!” He looked up when his friend entered, smiling brightly. 

“Grant’s really pissed off,” Henry said. “You made him float. Thomas tied him to his chair so he won’t end up on the ceiling again.”

“At least it’s just a levitation spell.” Joey waved a hand dismissively. Henry sighed and snatched away the tome from Joey, blowing out the candles. 

“No more black magic.” Herny scolded him as though he were an unruly child.

“But why?” Joey whined, trying to get the book back. Henry, somehow, managed to hold it out of his reach. 

“Because.” He said. “I think everyone is one spell away from killing you.”

“They won’t kill me.”

“They might quit.”

“Mm. Good point.” Joey seemed to consider this possibility before finally letting Henry take the book. He wasn’t happy about it, but in the end, he gave it up. It took about an hour for the spell on Grant to wear off, and the accountant stayed angry for at least a week afterwards. 

.

.

“So lemme get this straight: this machine gets thrown out of whack, the guy gets hit by lightning, and now he’s super fast?” Sammy asked, squinting at the screen. He, Wally, Joey, Susie, Norman, and Henry had gathered in the projection room for a marathon of the Flash TV series. Norman was normally a Marvel fan, but he really liked how this series portrayed the character of the flash. 

“That’s how it works, yes,” Norman confirmed. “I’m aware it doesn’t make a lot of sense, scientifically speaking, but superheroes aren’t really scientific.”

“I think it’s really good,” Susie said. “So many superheroes are all doom and gloom. Barry’s just fun to watch!”

“None of this makes sense,” Sammy said, shrugging. “But if it makes you guys happy, then I’m willing to watch it.” He had to admit, the character of Barry did remind him a little bit of Wally. 

“What did you think, Joey?” Henry asked, looking over at Joey. Joey was grinning and tapping his fingers together.

“I don’t like that look,” Sammy said. 

“Wally, how do you feel about getting superpowers?” Joey asked, turning to Wally.

“FUCK  YEAH!”

“JOEY, NO!”


	11. See In Black And White

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A prank by Bendy goes horribly wrong. Featuring @Gears112's Joshua Foster

Cordelia was sick. No one was sure with what, though. She’d just collapsed at work one day, prompting a call to Roy to come pick her up. Only, once he’d showed up, Joey had said she couldn’t leave. 

“What are you talking about?!” Roy demanded, towering over Joey. “My sister is sick! I need to get her to a doctor! Or at least back to the house!”

“She can’t leave.” Joey stood firm.

“What’s stopping me from taking her and leaving?” Roy asked. “You?”

“You’re welcome to try, but I would advise against it.” Joey folded his hands on his desk. For a few moments, the men stood in silence. 

“What do you know, Drew?” Roy narrowed his eyes. 

Joey blinked. “Well, I know quite a few things-”

“I mean about my sister’s condition.” Roy snapped. “Because obviously you know something I don’t.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” 

“Sure you don’t.” Roy slammed his hands down on Joey’s desk, bringing his face close to the animator’s. “What’s happening to her and why can’t I take her out of the studio? Start talking or this gets ugly.”

“Threatening violence isn’t going to get you answers!” Joey sputtered. 

“Oh really?” Roy smiled tightly. “Because it seems to have you all bothered. Now talk.”

“F-Fine.” Joey shrunk back a bit, gesturing for Roy to take a seat. The taller man pulled up a chair and settled himself down, crossing his legs lazily. 

“So. What did you do this time?” Roy asked. 

“Okay, it actually wasn’t my fault this time.” Joey said. 

“Wow.”

“Your sarcasm is not appreciated.”

Just then, Henry burst in. Joshua’s arm around his shoulder, but the young man was mostly rather limp. Henry looked absolutely terrified.

“Something’s wrong with Joshua!” Henry yelled. “He collapsed at my house!”

“And you brought him here?” Roy raised an eyebrow. 

“He’s coughing up ink!” Henry looked pointedly at Joey. Roy’s eyes widened slightly and he turned back to Joey, a cold smile spreading across his face. 

“Coughing up ink, really?” Roy said, tilting his head to the side. “And if I were to go find my sister, would she also be coughing up ink?”

“It’s...possible.” Joey admitted as he began to fidget. 

“And why are they coughing up ink,  _ Mr Drew _ ?” 

“Wait, Cordelia’s coughing up ink, too?” Henry very nearly dropped Joshua, managing to hoist the young man up at the last moment. “Joey! What’s going on?!” Joey sunk down in his chair, clearly extremely uncomfortable. 

“Bendy...might have slipped ink into their drinks while they were on their little date.” He murmured. He closed his eyes, waiting for the inevitable yelling that would follow. After it didn’t come, he opened one eye. Roy was just sighing and shaking his head, while Henry was moving on. 

“You...You aren’t going to start yelling?” Joey frowned. 

“Not everything is about you, Joey.” Roy got up from his chair. “I’m not going to yell at you because Bendy made a mistake. I am going to have a talk with him, though.” He left the office, joining Henry in holding Joshua up. 

They’d set up a miniature quarantine in the studio infirmary, with Cordelia laid out on a cot. Joshua was soon laid on a cot beside her. In the corner, the toons were worrying. Bendy tensed up when he saw Henry and Roy come in with Joshua. He knew as soon as the two men glanced at him that they knew this was his fault. The little demon seemed on the verge of tears.

“We’re not going to yell at you.” Henry assured him after they’d set Joshua down. 

“Y-You’re not mad?” Bendy asked, sniffling. 

“I’m definitely mad, but I understand that you didn’t know this would happen.” Roy kept his tone calm and his expression emotionless. “So I forgive you.” Bendy’s lower lip quivered and he threw himself against Roy’s thin legs, sobbing and thanking him for not yelling. Roy patted the little devil’s head calmly. 

“You think they’ll be okay?” Boris asked. 

“We’ll have to see.” Henry glanced back at the couple on the cots. He could already hear Sammy starting to yell upstairs. This was going to be an interesting experience. 

.

.

When Cordelia woke up,  it was to a terrible headache. She sat up slowly, groaning and holding a hand to her head. What had happened? Where was she? She looked around, her vision still blurry. She was in the infirmary. That’s right, she’d collapsed at work. But why was she still here? Shouldn’t Roy have taken her home? It was then that she caught sight of Joshua, laying on the cot beside her. A scream echoed through the studio. 

“She’s awake.” Roy got up from where he’d been sitting in Sammy’s office. 

“Oh thank God.” Sammy got up as well. Soon, another scream joined Cordelia’s.

“Looks like Joshua’s awake too.” Henry sighed, following the other two down to the infirmary. 

Meanwhile, Joshua and Cordelia were both still screaming while pointing at one another. Both had, by this point, noticed that they were no longer human. Harriet Jackman, studio doctor, stood by while the two of them screamed. 

“WHAT THE &%$# IS GOING ON?!” Cordelia shrieked, then slapped a hand over her mouth at the car horn that had come out instead of a curse word.

“It looks as though you two have been turned into toons.” Harriet said. 

“WE CAN SEE THAT!” Joshua yelled. “HOW DID IT HAPPEN?!” Cordelia was beginning to hyperventilate, her whole body comically shaking.

“From what Mr Drew told me, it was due to the meddling of a certain devil darling.” Harriet walked over to rub the girl’s back. “Don’t worry, he’s working on some way to turn you both back.”

“How did he do this?” Joshua asked, calming down a little bit. 

“When we were on our date.” Cordelia groaned, realization hitting her. “He must’ve followed us and put something in our drinks when we weren’t looking.”

“That’s what Joey said.” Harriet nodded. “Now, if you wouldn’t mind, I’d like to run a few tests.”

“What kinds of tests?” Cordelia asked, leaning away a little. 

“Nothing too bad.” Harriet gave both of them a reassuring smile. “Just checking your blood pressure and making sure you’re still healthy.” Cordelia and Joshua exchanged a look and nodded, allowing Harriet to run these tests. A few moments later, Henry, Sammy, and Roy entered. 

“Roy!” Cordelia immediately shot up and ran over to hug her brother. Roy took note of the fact that his sister, always rather short, had gotten even smaller. He scooped her up in his arms, something he hadn’t done in a long time, and let her cry into his chest. He could understand why she was so upset. 

“Are you alright?” Henry asked, going to Joshua’s side. 

“Well, other than having my entire being changed, yeah.” Joshua forced a shaky smile. “I think I’m doing okay.”

“Fucking Drew.” Sammy muttered, folding his arms and tapping his foot. “This is all his fault. Why do we even keep that ink machine around?”

“It helps the toons,” Harriet said. “And Mr Lawrence?”

“Yeah?”

“I believe I said if you didn’t do something to keep your blood pressure down you’ll pop a vein.” She glanced back at the music director with her patented disapproving stare. 

Sammy hunched his shoulders, muttering, “Sorry, Doctor.”

“Good man.” Harriet patted his back. 

“So, are we alright?” Joshua asked. 

“From what I can tell, you’re both completely healthy.” Harriet said. “Aside from the unfortunate transformation, you’re both fine.” 

“That’s good to hear.” Roy said. By this point, Cordelia had stopped crying. Her face was red, though, and steam was beginning to come out of her ears. She hopped out of Roy’s arms and sprinted up the steps, leaving a Cordelia shaped dust cloud in her wake. 

“Oh golly,” Joshua said, then paused. “Did...Did I just say golly?”

“Unfortunate side-effect of toonification I guess.” Henry smiled sheepishly. Roy and Sammy were already running after Cordelia, so Henry and Joshua followed. 

“DREW!” She slammed open the door to Joey’s office, literal steam coming out of her ears. Joey looked up from whatever dark magic book he’d been perusing. Bendy was perched on Joey’s chair, while Alice and Boris sat in chairs in front of the desk. 

“You look so cute!” Alice squealed, clapping her hands together. “You make a lovely toon!”

“H-Hi Cordelia.” Bendy began to sweat a little. “Y-You’re not mad at me, are you?” This gave Cordelia some pause. She didn’t want to yell at Bendy over this. He was basically a kid. She didn’t like yelling at children. The steam dissipated as she regained her composure. Or tried to, at least. Her emotions were so much harder to control now. 

“No, sweetheart.” She said. “I’m not mad at you. I’m mad at Joey.”

“Wha- Why me?” Joey asked. 

“Because he had to get that ink from somewhere.” Sammy and Roy appeared in the doorway, both looking less than pleased. 

“I went behind his back, please don’t be mad at him!” Bendy hopped off Joey’s chair, running forward to plead with the irate men. “It’s not his fault!” Cordelia could feel her heart melting at the sight of the little toon. He looked so upset. Before she could stop herself, she’d picked him up and was hugging him to her chest while assuring him that it would be alright. This was the scene Joshua and Henry walked into.

“Is everything okay?” Henry asked. 

“Peachy,” Roy replied. 

“Is...Is she okay?” Joshua asked. Cordelia had an interesting look of confliction on her face. It almost looked as though she’d smelled something foul. She put Bendy down and began pacing back and forth. Sammy and Roy turned their attention to Joey, silently menacing him from where they stood. 

“If you were to define Cordelia as a character, how would you do it, Joey?” Henry suddenly asked. 

“Kind-hearted, a bit of a mother hen, level-headed but sharp-tongued and explosive when she’s angry. Why?” Realization began to dawn on the faces of the others in the room as Joey spoke.

“I’m being reduced to a caricature of myself!” Steam began pouring out of Cordelia’s ears again. 

“Hey, it’s okay.” Joshua stepped forward, putting a hand on her shoulder. “We’re going to figure something out, okay?” Cordelia looked up at him, suddenly on the verge of tears. 

“You...You promise?” She whispered. 

“I promise.” He said, smiling. A second later he found himself kissing her. Evidently his characterization was a lot smoother than he was. He could hear Sammy making a high pitched noise of indignation, but the music director didn’t rush over and throttle him right there, thankfully. When Joshua pulled back, every part of him was screaming to apologize for taking her off guard like that. Both of them were bright red, little hearts floating up from their heads. 

“Golly,” Cordelia whispered. 

“S-Sorry.” Joshua stammered out. “I didn’t mean to-”

“No no, it’s okay.” Cordelia pushed some hair behind her ear, fiddling with her skirt. “It was...Nice. And, um, it did make me feel better.”

“I’m glad.”

“Should we leave you two alone?” Joey asked with a giant grin. Cordelia turned and gave him a very rude gesture before leaving with a flounce of her skirt. 

“I have work to do.” She said. 

The day went by rather uneventfully. Cordelia did her job as best she could, but she kept tripping and messing things up in comical ways, so she was relegated to hanging around with the toons with Joshua. 

“This is bull#$%*.” She muttered. 

“Aw, c’mon,” Boris said. “Being a toon ain’t that bad.”

“But I kept messing things up.” Big fat tears started forming in Cordelia’s eyes. “I-I spilled coffee all over S-Sammy’s shirt and he got burned and- and-” She started bawling. Joshua wasn’t nearly as distraught as her, but he certainly wasn’t  _ okay _ with this whole thing. The most minor irritation was that his tattoos were completely simplified. All that work, gone. The most major thing was the wrongness of this new body. If he didn’t think too much about it, it almost felt normal, but there was just an underlying sense of something being just slightly off. His limbs were too long, he had too few fingers, and there was too much energy in his body. He could barely sit still. He always had to be doing something or he felt like he’d burst. He’d been entertaining himself by doodling on pieces of paper, but that was only doing so much. 

“Oh, honey.” Alice patted Cordelia’s back. 

“And the worst part is that I can’t control my emotions!” Cordelia sobbed. “They just come bubbling up and  I can’t stop them! It’s like I’m a little kid again!”

“I’m real sorry.” Bendy fiddled with his gloves. 

“No, it’s okay.” Joshua said. “You didn’t know this was going to happen. Although, I am wondering why you put ink in our drinks anyway.”

“Well...I thought you two would, I dunno, get all lovey-dovey.” 

“So this was more matchmaking on your part.” Cordelia smiled through her tears. “You really are too mischievous for your own good.”

“I think it’s real sweet,” Boris said. 

“It is,” Cordelia admitted. “But also very sneaky.” Bendy smiled sheepishly.

“Well, they kissed, so I guess it was a success.” Alice laughed. At the mention of this, both Cordelia and Joshua went bright red and started sputtering. This only made Alice laugh even more. Joshua and Cordelia spent the rest of the day goofing around with the toons. While it was fun, the two couldn’t help but worry that they might not be able to turn back. As they stared at the ceiling that night, huddled on cots in the infirmary, that was all they could think about.

“Joey will fix this, won’t he?” Cordelia whispered, looking over at Joshua. 

“Yeah, definitely.” Joshua forced himself to smile. “We’re gonna be okay.”

“Okay.” Cordelia kept watching Joshua though. In the darkness, both of them reached out towards the other, their four fingered hands finding each other and entwining. Be able to touch the one another made them feel grounded. They had one another. They were going to be alright, they told themselves. They fell asleep like this, and that was how Harriet found them the next morning.


	12. Sammy Angel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In an attempt to boost the studio's popularity, Joey creates a new character and drafts Sammy to voice him. 30 years after the studio closes, Sammy is called back by a letter from Joey. Now he has to figure out how to escape the studio, while avoiding becoming his character completely.

Here's what Sammy Angel looks like. [X](http://queenofcats17.tumblr.com/post/168304726910/a-picture-of-sammy-angel-aka-toon-sammy-i-came)

* * *

 

Joey had come up with a new character for the show, perhaps as a result of Alice’s lack of popularity. Sammy didn’t understand why this was necessary. The studio was hemorrhaging money and nothing short of a miracle would save it. But it wasn’t his job to tell Joey no. That had been Henry’s job. So Sammy went along with it. Until Joey unveiled the character for the approval of the employees.

“Sammy Angel?!” Sammy sputtered.

“He’s Alice’s older brother,” Joey explained. “He’ll play a bit of a straight man role, someone for Bendy to prank.”

“Joey, why does it look like me?!” Sammy demanded.

“Because you’ll be playing him,” Joey said, turning his gaze upon Sammy. Joey’s appearance had taken a bit of a decline in recent months. Normally he was a very put together man. Now, his clothing was rumpled, hair uncombed and unkempt, and eyes wild.

“Wha- But I have to run the music department!”

“You’re going to be playing Sammy Angel.” Joey got in very close, so close that their noses were touching. “And you’re going to like it.” It took everything Sammy had not to snap at him.

“Yes, sir.” He said through gritted teeth.

And so began Sammy’s tenure as a voice actor. He’d done some bit parts in a few of the shorts when they needed backup vocals, but never something like this. It was...actually kind of fun. Had Susie still been at the studio, Sammy imagined she would have been excited. Allison at least was excited. She enjoyed doing lines with Sammy, and Sammy found himself enjoying himself far more than he should have. He could finally understand Susie’s attachment to Alice Angel. He felt connected to Sammy Angel in the same way he felt connected to music. But even Sammy Angel couldn’t save the studio, and in the end Sammy left for greener pastures. But 30 years later, a letter ended up drawing him back....

.

.

“I can’t believe I’m doing this.” Sammy muttered, getting out of his car. It had been thirty years since he’d last set foot near the studio. He’d put that part of his life behind him. He had a comfortable job at a new studio now. He was happy. So why had he come back here? Even if he didn’t want to admit it, this place had been home to Sammy. Joey had given him a real start, plucking him off the street when he’d just been a kid. So he went up to the door and entered the studio. The interior of the studio was dark dusty. As Sammy entered, he disturbed a cloud of dust, sending him into a coughing fit.

“Fuck!” He spat. “Would’ve thought Joey would keep this place cleaner.” Still, the studio **had** gone under. No one should be here. But Sammy knew Joey. That man wouldn’t let go of his studio no matter what happened. Defeat wasn’t in Joey Drew’s vocabulary. Sammy spent a few minutes looking around the first floor of the studio but found nothing.

“What the fuck, Joey?” He muttered to himself as he leaned on the ink machine. “You called me back here and you didn’t even show up!” He sighed to himself. Cordelia had told him not to answer the letter.

“Fuck Joey,” she’d said. “He put us through enough.” She’d been right, of course, but he couldn’t help but want to see Joey’s face again. After the disappearances of Henry, Susie, Allison, and Norman....He knew Joey had to have the answers. Sammy sighed and pushed himself off the machine. This had been a waste of time. He started to head back towards the entrance. Suddenly, pain bloomed in the back of his head. He felt himself starting to fall to the floor, vision blurring and going black. The last thing he saw before he slipped into unconsciousness was a smiling cartoon demon.

 

Sammy sat upright, breathing heavily. He looked frantically around the room, trying to get his bearings. He was still in the studio. In his old office to be exact. It didn’t look as though it had even been touched since his departure. How strange. He didn’t remember coming down here. The last thing he remembered was getting hit on the head. Maybe someone had moved him?

“Geez. If this is Joey’s doing, I’m gonna pummel him.” Sammy muttered to himself. Wait...His voice sounded strange. Higher pitched, squeakier. Then he looked down at himself. The scream that echoed through the studio shook the foundations. Sammy couldn’t believe what he was seeing. This couldn’t be real. He held his hands up to his face. Instead of seeing his normal skin tone, his skin was white as paper, and he had four fingers instead of five. His skin was smooth and unwrinkled, and he felt 30 years younger. He scrambled around his office, desperate to find some sort of reflective surface to get a look at himself. He settled for the puddle of ink outside his door. Staring back at him from the ink was the visage of Sammy Angel, complete with wings and a halo, looking decidedly unhappy with the situation.

“WHAT THE #$%&?!”

Ten minutes later he was running from ink creatures, one of whom sounded suspiciously like Henry. Sammy hated that the first thing he’d thought when he’d seen ‘Henry’ was, ‘Golly, he doesn’t look so good’. Who the fuck even said golly?! Now he was running for his life.

“Come back!” The thing that sounded like Henry cried. “You’ve been blessed by our Lord! I must learn your secrets!” Sammy rounded a corner, only to have his ankle grabbed and dragged through a trap door. At first, he wanted to scream. But as he listened to the pounding footsteps of Henry above him, he decided to keep quiet.

“That was a close one.” His saviour said, and Sammy’s eyes widened as he finally got a look at him. It was Boris. Boris the wolf. A real version of him.

“Oh, you have got to be @$#%ing me,” Sammy said.

“What’s wrong, Sammy?” Boris asked, looking genuinely concerned. “Aren’t you glad to see your old pal?”

“I’m gonna stop you before you go any further,” Sammy said, putting his hand up. “I’m not Sammy Angel.”

“You’re...You’re not?” Boris’ ears drooped. “You sure look a lot like him, though.”

“Sorry, buddy,” Sammy said, guilt already beginning to gnaw at his chest. “My name’s Sammy Lawrence. I’m- I mean, I was the music director here. I also voiced Sammy Angel.”

“Oh, okay.” Boris nodded dejectedly.

“I just didn’t want you thinking I was someone I’m not,” Sammy said. Dammit, why did he feel so bad?

“No, it’s alright.” Boris tried to reassure him. “I just...Bendy and Alice are acting awful weird and I thought, well, I thought maybe I finally found a friend.”

“I’ll be your friend,” Sammy said before he could stop himself. “I mean, I’m not Sammy Angel, but I’m still Sammy. We both wanna get out of here, right?” Boris nodded. “Good! Now, you mentioned something about Alice?”

“Oh, I don’t think going to her would be a good idea,” Boris said. “If _you’re_ Sammy Lawrence, she’s not going to want to see you.”

“Why do you say that?” Sammy asked, already heading for the door.

“She says you’re a liar,” Boris said, wringing his hands.

“Ah.” Which meant the “Alice” Boris was talking about was probably Susie. He had hoped that 30 years would have eased the tensions between the two of them. Evidently not.

“I still...I still want to see her.” Sammy said. “I want to make things right.” Ever since he and Susie had parted ways, he’d hoped for a chance to mend things. He loved Susie, he really did. It had always hurt him how she had refused to listen to him before she left.

“You sure you aren’t Sammy Angel?” Boris asked.

“I’m sure.” Sammy bristled a little at this, wings puffing up. “Why?”

“The Sammy Alice talks about doesn’t seem like a nice person.” Boris backed up a little. “But you’re real swell.”

“I...Thanks.” Sammy shrugged a little, feeling his cheeks heating up. “Can you just take me to Alice?”

“Sure thing!” Boris perked up. “C’mon!” He went out another door, gesturing for Sammy to follow. Sammy did so, staying close to Boris as they ventured through the studio. He’d never been this deep in the studio before. He’d heard Wally and Thomas complain about having to go into the bowels of the studio to fix the pipes or tinker with the machine. But he’d never been this deep before. He breathed a sigh of relief when they came out into the toy department. This was familiar territory.

“I still can’t believe Joey built a whole toy department down here.” Sammy laughed to himself. “Must’ve been hell for Shawn to get down here every day.”

“Who’s Shawn?” Boris asked.

“He was a toymaker,” Sammy explained. “He painted the toys. Bit high strung, but a nice guy. Joey was always going off on him for not painting the smiles exactly perfect.” He paused for a moment. “Do you know who Joey is?”

“Henry talks about him a lot.” Boris seemed to withdraw a bit. “He ran the studio, right?”

“Yep. He was the head honcho.” Sammy nodded.

“Was he nice?” Boris asked.

“He was...something.” Sammy tried to choose his words carefully. “I did like working for him, though. And he made you guys loved by the world.” Boris smiled, but it seemed a little sad. They lapsed into silence again until they got into the little meet and greet room Joey had set up for the Angel siblings. Sammy smiled a little to himself as he looked around. Alice and Sammy Angel plushes lined the shelves, as well as posters depicting the siblings.

“People must’ve really loved you and Alice.” Boris stared around the room.

“Not enough to save the studio,” Sammy said. Boris whined and nuzzled up to Sammy, placing his chin on the angel’s head.

“Hey, it’s okay,” Sammy said.

“Did people not love us anymore?” Boris whimpered. Sammy gritted his teeth. His natural response was to be brutally honest, but he didn’t feel like he could do that here. Boris deserved better than that.

“I think...I think the world just changed.” Sammy said slowly. “People still love you, buddy. They’ll love you again. We just have to get you out.”

“Okay.”

They continued on, taking an elevator down to the level where Boris said Alice resided. Sammy recognized the level. It was where Joey had been trying to set up an Alice themed attraction. The ‘She’s Quite A Gal’ sign was still up.

“I’m gonna stay here,” Boris said, shrinking back. “I don’t like her.”

“Okay. I’ll be right back.” Sammy smiled and headed over to the doors. They opened as soon as he approached, allowing him in. The room beyond was filled with ink and the corpses of Boris’ and various Butcher Gang members. Sammy’s stomach churned at the sight.

“Sammy?” A soft voice echoed from the loudspeakers. “Sammy, is that you?” It sounded like Susie’s Alice voice.

“Susiebell?” He said tentatively.

“Oh, it’s you.” The voice dropped to a lower, sultrier register. “What do you want, Lawrence?”

“I want to help you.” He said.

“I don’t need your help.” Alice sneered. “I don’t need _you_! You’re nothing but a liar!” Sammy screwed up his face in determination and began to cross the inky sea.

“I’m not giving up on you.” He said.

“Go away!” Alice yelled. Sammy was already on the other side of the room though, heading deeper inside to find Alice. His heart almost stopped when he finally saw her. She did look like Alice. If he saw her from the side, he would have thought her perfect. But the left side of her face was twisted and skeletal.

“What happened to you?” He asked.

“Don’t look at me like that!” She slammed her fist down on her podium. “I don’t need your pity! I’m going to be perfect! I will be perfect!” He just kept staring at her, unable to form any words. Alice stared back.

“Why do you get to be perfect?” She whispered, staring mournfully down at the complete angel toon. The glow of Sammy’s halo dimmed and his wings drooped. He really did feel guilty, not just because he had dated Susie. The personality of Sammy Angel seemed to be bleeding into his own, making him want to make everything right. He wanted to fix her, wanted to make everything right. He also wanted to kick Joey Drew’s ass, but that was nothing new. It wasn’t in the nature of Sammy Lawrence to be a savior, but it was in Sammy Angel’s.

“Susie, I-”

“No!” Her face contorted in rage. “I’m Alice! I’m Alice Angel!” She slammed her hands against the glass, causing Sammy jump back.

“Alice,” he corrected himself. “Please. I’ll help you. I want to help you.”

“You really have changed,” Alice said. “Lawrence would never try to help others.”

“Oh come on,” Sammy said. “I’m not that bad. I help.”

“Sammy Lawrence is a selfish, spiteful bastard.” Alice sneered. “Sammy Angel is selfless and kind. Like I’m supposed to be.” Sammy couldn’t help but feel bad. He’d been a right bastard, he knew that. But was Sammy Angel really better than him? Maybe he was better off just becoming the character. He should give up. But his stubbornness prevailed. Giving up meant Joey won. He absolutely couldn’t let Joey win. Not now, not ever.

“Yeah, I’m an #$%&hole, but I'm not just going to abandon you.” Sammy drew himself up to his full height, which was considerably smaller than before. “I love you, and leaving you was the worst decision of my life.” Alice stared at him, and for a moment he could see Susie Campbell staring back at him. But that was quickly gone, replaced by this twisted Alice.

“You’re a liar.” She snarled. The shutters slammed down. Sammy shuffled back to the elevator, where Boris stood waiting.

“How’d it go?” Boris asked.

“Not well.”

“Cheer up.” Boris gave him a big goofy grin. “I’m sure it’ll be okay.”

“Thanks, buddy.” Sammy couldn’t help but smile.

“I like it when you smile,” Boris said. “You really look like him when you do.”

“But I’m not him.” Sammy’s smile vanished. “I’m human. I’m the music director.” This was more for his benefit than anything else. He had to remind himself of who he was.

“I know.” Boris’ smile turned sad again.

“If you really want to be of help, I suppose I could use an errand boy.” Alice suddenly said, voice coming through the speakers.

“I’ll do it,” Sammy said. He would do anything for her. Whether she was Alice or Susie.


	13. See In Black And White 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things get worse before they get better for toonified Joshua and Cordelia. Especially Cordelia. Featuring Gears112's Joshua Foster

The next day went...better. Cordelia didn’t have as many mood swings and Joshua was largely unaffected by any forced characterization. Evidently Joey didn’t know enough about him, other than the fact that he liked Cordelia, to pin down any sort of archetype for him. Bendy was waiting for them when they woke up. 

“Thought I could teach ya the ropes of being a toon.” He said, tail swishing back and forth. “Y’know, as an apology.”

“That’s very sweet of you, Bendy.” Cordelia reached out to sleepily pat his head. 

“We should probably check with Joey first to see if he’s made any progress with figuring out how to fix this.” Joshua said. Bendy followed along behind them as they made their way upstairs. 

“He’s been working real hard to fix everything.” The little demon said. “Stayed up all night, too.” 

“Does this kind of thing happen often?” Joshua asked, looking to Cordelia. 

“More than you’d think.” She admitted. “Sammy’s been turned into a toon at least three times and an ink monster twice. He’s got a seal on his back to stop the ink from affecting him at this point. Probably should have gotten one of those myself. Maybe on my hip?” That answer did not inspire hope in the young tattoo artist. 

“It’ll be okay.” Bendy said quickly. “Joey’s always fixed things.” As they drew closer to Joey’s office, they could hear Nancy’s voice coming from within. She obviously wasn’t too happy. 

“Oh boy.” Joshua groaned. They opened the door to find Nancy leaning on Joey’s desk and giving him an earful. Sammy stood in a corner of the office, along with an obviously exhausted Roy.

“Morning. You two sleep well?” Sammy asked, considerably more amiable than he’d been the day before. Perhaps this had something to do with the fact that his sister was cursing out Joey like a champ. 

“Other than the existential terror of possibly being stuck this way forever, yeah. I slept fine.” Cordelia said without missing a beat. 

“Same.” Joshua echoed. Nancy whirled around at the sound of his voice, immediately running over to him.

“Are you alright? Does it hurt?” She asked. 

“I’m fine, Nancy. Don’t worry.” Joshua assured her. “No, it doesn’t hurt. It does feel kinda weird, though.”

“See? I told you he was fine.” Joey said. 

“Shut up!” Sammy and Nancy both snapped in unison. Roy had passed out in the chair he was in, starting to snore quietly. Cordelia sighed softly.

“Has he been here all night?” She asked, gingerly putting her hand on her brother’s shoulder. 

“None of us could make him go home.” Alice said, appearing from the other corner of the room. “He said he’s staying until you get fixed. Since you can’t leave.”

“Wait, we can’t leave?” Joshua asked. “What are you talking about? You didn’t say anything about not being able to leave yesterday.”

“Well, um...” Joey pulled at his collar nervously. “When Cordelia first collapsed yesterday, our first response was to take her to a hospital, but when we tried to take her out of the studio, her body began to...collapse.”

“So we can’t leave or our bodies will stop functioning.” Joshua was trying very hard not to get irritated at Joey. 

“More like they’ll just stop being altogether.” Bendy said. “You’ll just be puddles of ink.”

“That’s very helpful. Thank you.” Joshua gritted his teeth. So they really were stuck here until Joey could fix them. They were sentient ink, just like the toons, and they were bound to the studio. This was why he avoided Henry’s workplace. 

“Oh, Joshy.” Nancy’s brow furrowed. 

“It’s fine.” He said, avoiding looking at her. “You should probably get back to work. Tell Chris I’m sick.”

“Are you sure you don’t want me to stay?” She asked. 

“I’ll be fine.” He said, forcing a smile. “Don’t worry.” Nancy pursed her lips, but offered no more argument. She nodded to Sammy and exited the office. Joshua didn’t let the smile slip until he was sure she was out of the building. 

“Joey, please tell me you’ve made progress in figuring this out.” Sammy said, looking to his boss. 

“I’ve made some.” Joey said. “But this is...different from your circumstances. They consumed the ink and it fused with their bodies.”

“Thank you, that makes me feel so much better about this.” Cordelia gave him a pointed look.

“But you can fix it, right?” Bendy said, looking from Joshua to Cordelia. “You can always fix it.”

“Probably.”

“Probably?!” Joshua and Cordelia yelled in unison. 

“We’ve never had a situation like this before.” Joey rushed to defend himself. “But I’m sure I’ll figure something out. I always do.”

“If you say so.” Cordelia sighed. 

“Come on. Let’s go get breakfast.” Alice took Joshua and Cordelia by the hand, leading them out of the office. Bendy trailed behind them. Breakfast was bacon soup. Joshua wrinkled his nose a little at this. Sure, Henry ate bacon soup, but the stuff was practically paint thinner. 

“It’s not like we can eat normal food.” Cordelia just shrugged and downed some. Joshua hesitated but ate a spoonful as well. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great either. 

“You know, it’s not so bad,” Cordelia said, smiling a little bit. 

“I’m glad you like it.” Alice rubbed her back. “But you don’t have to eat it.”

“No no, I don’t mind.” Cordelia went on to down a can and a half, much to the surprise of everyone else. Joshua couldn’t help but be a little unnerved by this. 

“So, what do you guys want to do today?” Boris asked. 

“We can prank Sammy.” Bendy offered. Joshua shuddered at the thought of being chased down by the music director. 

“Maybe not that.” He said. “I don’t want to get chased.”

“I always feel bad when he gets pranked.” Cordelia shook her head. 

“What about dancing?” Alice suggested. “Does dancing sound fun?”

“Yeah.” Cordelia nodded slowly, a small smile spreading across her face. “That does sound like a lot of fun!” Her smile quickly spread until it was a full-blown goofy grin.

“We could have a sock hop,” Joshua said, only half joking.

“I was never allowed to go to sock hops.” Cordelia smiled mischievously. 

“Let’s have one!” Bendy hopped up, eyes sparkling. “We can filch some of Sammy’s records and have a dance down in the toy department!” Giggling, Cordelia followed the little demon out of the room.

“Well, I’m glad she’s not worrying too much now,” Joshua said. 

“She does worry too much.” Alice agreed. Together, they all went down to the toy department. Cordelia pulled a record player out of hammerspace and set it up. This surprised everyone. 

“Didn’t think you had it in you, kid.” Bendy slapped her back. 

“Are you alright?” Alice asked. When Sammy had used hammerspace in his toon form, he hadn’t felt too good afterwards. 

“I’m fine!” Cordelia said brightly. Both Alice and Boris looked rather worried at that. Joshua and Bendy didn’t notice their expressions, only focusing on how happy Cordelia seemed. 

“Dance with me.” She said, grabbing Joshua’s hands. 

“I mean, are you sure?” He asked.

“Of course!” She gave him a big smile. Joshua smiled back, letting her drag him into the middle of the toy department. The dancing was wild and energetic, and the most fun Joshua had ever had. But as they danced, Joshua noticed Cordelia’s proportions seemed to look more...exaggerated. More toonish. He looked back at Alice and Boris, who both look terrified.

“Cordelia, are you okay?” Joshua stopped dancing. Cordelia stopped as well but looked disappointed. 

“Of course I am, silly.” She said. “Why do you ask?”

“Um...Why don’t you wait here for a second?” Joshua said, starting to pull away. He had to go get Joey, tell him that things were going wrong. But Cordelia pouted and grabbed his arm. 

“But I want to keep dancing!” She said.

“Alright. We can keep dancing.” He put his hands on her shoulders, glancing quickly back towards the toons. Alice and Boris scrambled to go get Joey and bring him down there. 

“Where are they going?” Cordelia asked, cocking her head to the side. 

“Nowhere. Don’t worry about it.” Joshua desperately tried to stay calm. He wasn’t sure what was happening, but he was sure it was bad. 

Meanwhile, Alice and Boris were frantically telling Joey the situation. Joey could feel his stomach sinking with every word. 

“She’s losing herself to the ink.” He murmured. 

“What does that mean?” Roy slammed his hands on the desk. “You said you were going to fix this!”

“I will!” Joey said. “I just need more time!” Time he didn’t have, apparently. 

“I can’t lose her!” Roy yelled, his composure shattering. “So you either fix this or I will drown you in your precious ink machine!”

“Roy, please calm down.” Alice put a hand on the man’s shoulder. “I-I’m sure Joey can fix this-”

“It might be too late for her.” Joey suddenly said. 

“Excuse me?” Roy’s face went blank. 

“It might be too late for her.” Joey repeated. “If she’s as far gone as it sounds like she is, we might have to give up on ever getting her back to being human.” For a moment, everyone was still and everything was silent. Then Roy was hoisting Joey up by his lapels and dragging him down the stairs. They came out in the toy department, where Joshua and Cordelia were still dancing. They abruptly stopped when they saw the two men enter, flanked by Alice and Boris. 

“Roy?” Cordelia stopped. “What...What are you doing?” Roy didn’t say a word, pushing past his sister with Joey still held in the air.

“Mr. Bell, please put me down.” Joey said. “I-I can fix it. I can. I promise you, I can fix this. You just need to believe me, I-”

“No more empty promises. No more waiting. No more belief.” Roy stopped in front of a pool of ink, then promptly shoved Joey’s face in it. 

“ROY!” Cordelia ran over, her proportions normalizing as she ran over and tried to pry Roy away from the struggling body of Joey Drew. 

“Jesus Christ!” Joshua ran over and did the same. Roy’s face was set in a mask of indifference, but he let himself be pushed away. 

“What on Earth has gotten into you?!” Cordelia demanded, jabbing her finger into her brother’s chest. 

“Are you crazy?!” Joshua yelled, helping Joey to his feet. “You could have killed him!”

Roy just stared at the floor. “I can’t lose you, Dee.” He put a hand on his sister’s head. 

“I know, but you can’t go hurting people.” She brought his hand down so that she held it in both of hers. “We’ve had this conversation before.”

“You what?!” Joshua asked. He’d heard stories from Henry about how unpredictable the elder Bell sibling could be, but he’d never expected this level of insanity. 

“It’s a long story,” Cordelia said solemnly. 

“G-Good news is, I think I know how to fix this now.” Joey coughed up some ink. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go vomit.”

“Sorry,” Roy said. 

“No worries.” Joey smiled brightly. “It wouldn’t be a normal day if someone didn’t try to kill me at least once.”

Joshua and Cordelia were back to normal by the end of the day. Cordelia stayed solemn throughout most of it. As she prepared to leave, she took Joshua aside. 

“I’m sorry about what Roy did.” She said. “And I’m sorry for how I acted. I understand if you don’t want to keep seeing me because of this.”

“I think we do need to have a talk about your brother,” Joshua replied. 

“I know.” 

“But I still like you.”

Cordelia smiled slightly. “Thanks.” Then she kissed his cheek and left. 


	14. Heart to Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Joshua and Cordelia talk about the incident at the studio. Featuring @Gears112's Joshua Foster

The day after the...unfortunate events at the studio, Joshua and Cordelia met up at a coffee shop. For a few minutes, both of them were silent, just staring at their cups of coffee. 

“How are you feeling?” Joshua finally asked. 

“I’ve been better,” Cordelia said. 

“And Roy?” Joshua was almost afraid to ask about her brother but knew he probably needed to. 

“He went to the psychiatrist.” Cordelia sipped at her coffee. 

“Oh.”

They lapsed into silence again for a few moments. 

“How long has he been like this?” Joshua asked. “I mean, how long has he been violent towards people threatening you?”

“It started after the accident,” Cordelia said, staring into her cup. “It was just little stuff at first. He’d break things when he was angry. Pencils, notebooks, even a pot once. He wasn’t violent towards people until after our parents died. He got really protective then.”

“Has he...Has he killed anyone?” 

“Wha- God! No!” Cordelia shook her head. “He just broke a guy’s arm once.”

“Why’d he break the guy’s arm?”

Cordelia withdrew into herself a little bit. “I...I don’t want to talk about it.” She whispered. “The important part was that the guy didn’t press charges.” Joshua decided not to poke this particular hornet’s nest. If she didn’t want to talk about, he wasn’t going to make her talk about it. 

“Do you have any idea why he’s like this?” He asked instead. 

“Have you ever heard of Phineas Gage?” Cordelia asked after a moment. “I think it’s something like that.”

“But he didn’t get a pole through the head.” 

Cordelia shrugged a little. “All I remember from the doctor’s visit is that it was some sort of brain injury.”

“So you did go to the doctor.” That made him feel better to hear. It meant she wasn’t just pushing it to the side and pretending it didn’t exist.

“Well, he kind of had to after the whole accident.” Cordelia couldn’t help but laugh. “I don’t know exactly what happened on set, but I know he at least got an iron to the face and a stage light to the leg.”

“That doesn’t sound good.” Joshua said, grimacing. 

“It wasn’t.” Her smile quickly faded. 

“I’m, um, I’m glad you’re on top of this.” He said. “I was a little worried, honestly.”

“Yeah.” Cordelia sighed and shrugged. “I mean, we’re both mentally ill, so we’ve gotta stay aware of it and all that. It’s a process.” 

“He’s lucky to have you.” Joshua reached out to touch her hand. 

“Thanks. I, uh, I understand if you don’t want to see me anymore.” She tried to draw away a little. “Roy and I are pretty fucked up.”

“We’re all a little fucked up.” Joshua tried to reassure her. “You don’t need to worry.”

“You’re going to leave me like everyone else over this, I just know you will.” Cordelia had started crying, burying her face in her hands. 

“No, hey, it’s okay.” Joshua leaned over the table, trying to get her to put her hands down. “Cordelia, I’m not going to leave you.”

“You think I’m broken!”

“Hey!” His voice came out sharper than intended. Cordelia flinched back. Joshua quickly calmed down and tried once more. 

“Hey.” He repeated. “I don’t think you’re broken. Honestly, I was worried you’d think that about me.”

“Why would I think that about you?” She asked, looking up at him. “You’re such a kind and talented person. Honestly, you’re way out of my league.”

“So are you.” He said. “Don’t sell yourself short. You’re a wonderful person.” Cordelia smiled softly at him, wiping away some tears. 

“Thanks. You’re so amazing.” She got to her feet, brushing off her clothes. “I...I should probably get home now.”

“Thanks for coming and talking with me.” Joshua got to his feet as well. “This was important.” 

“Communication is always important.” Cordelia nodded. “I’ll...I’ll see you later, alright?” 

“See you later.”


	15. Readjustment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Norman and Sammy adjust to life after the studio.

[liliflower137](https://liliflower137.tumblr.com/)  asked:

Last one last one, I wish you would write a fanfic where Norman and/or Sammy having recently been freed from the ink have to readjust to the outside world (colours, being human, stuff like that)

 

* * *

It had been so long since either of them had seen sunlight. They squinted as Henry dragged them out of the studio and into the light.

“What is that?” Sammy asked before realizing a moment later that it was the sun.

“Did you forget what the sun looked like, Lawrence?” Norman laughed, although his voice was still hoarse from disuse.

“Shut up,” Sammy muttered, shoving his hands in the pockets of his overalls. They were all sights for sore eyes. Every single one of them, thin and malnourished, dark bags under their eyes and ink in their hair, on their skin and clothing. Norman had little bruises and cuts from where the wires had connected to his flesh.

“We’re really out.” Norman murmured as they all wandered over to Henry’s car. Sammy nodded. He was paying attention to him, he really was, but at the same time, he was distracted by all the sensations he’d forgotten he could feel. The sun on his skin, the grass and gravel under his bare feet, the uncomfortable itchiness of the overalls. He pushed some hair out of his eyes. God, he needed a shower. He felt filthy.

“We’re going to get ink all over your seats,” Norman said, looking more than a little sheepish.

“We’ll get you cleaned up when we get home,” Henry promised. “I’ll clean the seats later.” They all clambered in, settling down for the trip back to Henry’s house. Sammy couldn’t stop staring at his hands. He had five fingers again. He could see his skin. He could see colours once more. Everything in the studio had always either black or a muted sepia tone.

“The sky’s so blue, isn’t it?” Norman glanced out the window beside Sammy. “I forgot how nice colours were.”

“Me too.” Sammy couldn’t help but smile. He’d never thought he’d be normal again, never thought he’d finally be himself again.

“Does it hurt anymore?” Sammy asked, looking to Norman. He remembered the other man mentioning something about being in a constant state of pain as the Projectionist after they’d been turned back.

“No.” Norman smiled tiredly. “It doesn’t hurt.” Sure, every part of his body was sore, but it was nothing like the pain he’d experienced when he’d been that…thing. There was also the pain of just being old, but he felt better than he had in years.

.

.

Adjusting after was…interesting. Sometimes, in times of stress, Sammy would slip back into prophet mode, and they were all plagued with nightmares almost every night. It was difficult, but if that was the price of their freedom, they were willing to pay it. They’d finally gotten out. They were human again. Those who had family still living returned to them, and those who didn’t stayed with Henry. Sammy was among those who didn’t have anyone to go have to, so Henry set him up in a spare room. Norman had gone back to his family, only to find they’d moved on without him. His wife had remarried, and his children barely knew him. So he moved into Henry’s house as well. He and Sammy became extremely close during their recovery.

“It just feels weird, y’know?” Norman said as the two of them looking through the newspaper for job postings. “The whole world moved on without us.”

“Yeah.” Sammy stared sullenly into his cup of coffee. Of all of them, he was the one who forgot to eat the most often. He still hadn’t gained back all the weight he’d lost during his time stuck in the studio.

“Found anything yet?”

“Not a thing.” Sammy sighed. Freedom wasn’t quite as sweet as he’d anticipated. They needed to find jobs, needed to reacclimate to a society that had grown and changed while they’d been gone, completely leaving behind the survivors of Joey Drew Studios behind.

“I think I’m a bit old for this, but there’s an ad asking for a security guard.” Norman circled the ad and pushed it towards Sammy. “Maybe you’d like it?”

Sammy scanned it and wrinkled his nose. “Yeah, no thanks. I saw an interview with the guy who owns this place, and he reminds me way too much of Joey.”

“Oh well.” Norman shrugged. “We’ll find jobs eventually.”

“Maybe I could be a music teacher.” Sammy leaned back in his chair. “That’d be nice.”

“Do what you like,” Norman said. “And be careful. You’ll fall over.”  Adjusting to life again wasn’t easy, but they were willing to put in the work. They were just happy to be free.


	16. Timeout For A Demon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A request from Lala where Bendy gets punished for his actions.

Bendy was in timeout. The little demon didn’t like it, but Joey had put his foot down. There had been an increasing number of complaints from various studio employees about the pranks Bendy had been pulling, most of which had come from Sammy, and Joey knew he had to do something to punish his creation for his mischief. His solution? A timeout. 

“This is stupid!” Bendy said, kicking the wall. “I was just having some fun!”

“You have to learn that there are consequences to your actions,” Joey said, not even looking up from his paperwork. “Now settle down. You still have 25 minutes left.”

“But Alice and Boris aren’t getting timeouts!” Bendy kicked the wall again, continuing to do so out of frustration.

“They haven’t been pranking everyone.” Joey glanced up over his glasses. “If you keep kicking the wall, I’ll make the timeout an hour.”

“WHAT?!”

“You heard me, Bendy. Now be good.”

Bendy stopped kicking the wall, slumping in his chair and muttering about how unfair this was. He was a toon! Mischief was in his nature! He shouldn’t be punished for doing what came naturally to him! Although, some of his pranks had caused them to cut things a little close during deadline times. And Sammy was always really stressed because of his pranks. The more the little demon thought about it, the worse he felt. He just wanted to have fun. He wasn’t supposed to be hurting anyone. 

“Am I gonna have to do this again tomorrow?” Bendy asked after a bit. 

“For the rest of the week, yes.”

“And after that?”

“Only if you cause trouble.”

Bendy sunk lower in his chair. He could understand why Joey was doing this now, but he still didn’t like it. It was demeaning. He wasn’t a child! Outside the office, everyone in the studio breathed a sigh of relief for this brief period of peace. Maybe if they were lucky, there would be more quiet times in the future. They could only hope. Luckily, after his week of timeouts, Bendy was better behaved. The pranks were few and far between following that, and even when they were pulled, they were on a much smaller scale than before. When he did slip up, he was put right back in timeout. 


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nancy and Chris follow the Acolyte in their search to find Sammy and Joshua. Featuring @Gears112's Chris, Nancy, and Joshua. 
> 
> I keep typing Chris' name as Christ. Why

There were a lot of new people in the studio. For years, the only people Cordelia had seen in the studio were her prophet, the false angel, and the ink demon. Now there were two new people walking around, one of whom knew her prophet. She trailed behind the two as they walked, dripping ink every so often. After a little while, the woman, who had been identified as Nancy by the man, turning to Cordelia. 

“I don’t think we ever caught your name, sweetie.” She said, smiling. “Would you mind introducing yourself?”

“Not at all.” Cordelia said brightly. “I’m Cordelia Bell, acolyte of our Lord and savior Bendy the Dancing Demon.” Nancy’s brow furrowed at this. 

“Cordelia?” She repeated. 

“That’s my name!” Cordelia nodded. 

“You said you were an acolyte.” The man, Chris, said. “Does that mean there’s a priest or something around here?” He started laughing and Nancy swatted at his arm. 

“Of course.” Cordelia said, taking them both by surprise. “I mean, he’s not a priest, per se, but he’s a prophet! He brought me out of the Dark Place. He saved me!”

“And who is this great prophet?” Nancy sighed. She already had to deal with one religious fanatic in her daily life. Having to deal with another one here would just be irritating. 

“Sammy Lawrence! I thought you’d know this. You knew his name, didn’t you?”

Now that got their attention. 

“Sweetie, say that again,” Nancy said, grabbing Cordelia by her shoulders. The smaller girl was a bit startled by this. 

“Do you know him from before here?” She asked, her voice small. 

“Know him? He’s my brother!” Nancy said. “Where is he?” Cordelia shrunk away, like a cornered animal, her single visible eye wide. 

“Nance, you’re scaring her.” Chris drew Nancy back. “We’ll never find Sammy if she clams up.”

“The last time I saw him, he said he’d found a new sacrifice.” Cordelia said. “I was supposed to make sure the cutouts on these lower levels hadn’t been tampered with. But then Alice caught me. And you two saved me.” She frowned for a moment, chewing on her lip. “You two....I know you, don’t you? You seem so familiar.”

“That’s right.” Nancy nodded. 

“How could you ever forget this handsome face?” Chris asked, feigning a hurt expression. Cordelia giggled, covering her mouth. Nancy relaxed a little. At least she was smiling. That was a good sign. 

“Come on,” Nancy said. “Let’s keep looking for Sammy and Joshua.”

“I can help!” Cordelia said, looking eager to assist. Now that was the intern Nancy was familiar with. Sammy had always described Cordelia as desperate to please everyone around her. Honestly, if Nancy wasn’t worried about the girl before she was now. But now wasn’t the time to be worried about the person she had with her. She had to find Joshua and her brother. 

“Well, lead on then,” Chris said. 

“If Sammy’s anywhere, he’ll probably be back in the music department.” Cordelia set off with purpose, the ink beginning to retreat from her form a bit.

“Well, she’s as perky as ever,” Chris said as the two of them followed her. 

“You don’t think Sammy ended up like her, do you?” Nancy asked. “God, what the fuck was Joey even doing here?!”

“I mean, we always kinda knew Joey was batshit crazy.” Chris said. “There’s a reason Henry left.” Nancy sighed and nodded. She’d begged her brother to stop working at the studio after Henry had left, but Sammy was a stubborn bastard even on the best of days. Then he’d disappeared. She’d known Joey had been behind it, but she could never prove it. If they found Joey in this shit-hole, she was kicking his teeth in. Cordelia led them up into the music department and to a room with a pentagram in the middle of it. It was near the recording booth. And there, in the middle of the pentagram, was Joshua. 

“Joshy!” Nancy ran over, immediately going to untie the young man. Christ moved to help her, while Cordelia just stared with a puzzled expression on her face. The door to the recording booth burst open, and out strode Sammy Lawrence. He seemed surprised to see Nancy and Chris untying Joshua, and furious when he saw Cordelia. 

“Did you lead them here?!” He demanded, stalking over to her. 

“No, it’s okay.” She said. “That’s your sister!”

“My...Nancy?” Sammy turned around slowly, pulling his mask down. At this, Nancy stood up, walked over, and slapped Sammy across the face. 

“What were you thinking?!” She yelled. “Since when do you sacrifice people?!” There were tears in her eyes. She’d been too late. Her brother had fallen victim to the horrors of the studio. No, she couldn’t lose faith. They’d find some way to fix this. That bastard Joey Drew was going to fix this whether he liked it or not. 

“That...That hurt!” Sammy snapped. “What the Hell?!”

“Well, it serves you right!” Nancy put her hands on her hips. “You just tried to sacrifice someone like some kind of deranged cultist!” Beside her, it seemed to be slowly dawning on Cordelia just how fucked up this situation was. 

“I...It seemed like a good idea.” Sammy murmured, rubbing his cheek. His face seemed to have regained some features now, so his look of irritation was plain.

“You okay, buddy?” Chris asked, helping Joshua to his feet. The young tattoo artist made a vaguely affirmative noise, rubbing his head. 

“Did you hit him over the head with something?” Nancy demanded, jabbing her finger into her brother’s chest. “Because if he’s concussed, I am going to kill you.”

“I didn’t hit him that hard.” Sammy folded his arms and avoided looking at Nancy. 

“Is he okay?” Cordelia made her way over, fussing with her hands. 

“‘M fine,” Joshua said. “My head just hurts.”

“Why did you hit him so hard?” Cordelia turned back to Sammy, giving him a withering look. It was almost like old times. 

“I didn’t!” Sammy said. “He’s fine! He said so!”

“Cordelia?” Joshua slurred, reaching up to touch her face. “What happened to you? You’ve got ink all over you?” Cordelia stared at him, covering his hand with hers. 

“Joshua.” She whispered, her eyes widening. “Oh my God...” A moment later she sunk to her knees and began sobbing. How could she have forgotten? 

“Save the tears.” Sammy said, putting a hand on her shoulder. “We gotta get outta here.” Cordelia took a moment to compose herself and nodded. Joey Drew had a lot to answer for. 


	18. Wally Gets Drunk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little WallyxSammy fluff request from Tumblr

[randomwriteronline](https://randomwriteronline.tumblr.com/)  asked:

If you're still taking those fic requests could you please write some wally x sammy where Wally is drunk and clinging onto Sammy?

 

* * *

It was the annual studio Christmas party and Wally was drunk. This was a rather rare sight in the studio, as Wally didn’t usually drink. Drunk Wally was truly a sight to behold. He slurred his speech, rambling about how awful his job was and what a bad boss Joey was and how much he loved Sammy. Sammy found his drunk boyfriend rather hilarious. Especially because Wally had a tendency to be rather clingy when he was drunk. Currently, he was draped bonelessly over Sammy’s shoulders, glaring at anyone who came even remotely close to Sammy.

“He’s like a kitten.” Susie giggled as she watched Wally swat at her.

“A cute little freckled kitten,” Allison said, her arm around Susie.

“He’s mine. Get away, you Jezebel.” Wally glared towards Susie.

“Hey, easy there tiger.” Sammy patted Wally’s head. “They’re not here to steal me away from you, I swear.”

“But…But what if you suddenly decide you’re straight?” Wally asked, starting to tear up a little. “What if you run away with Susie?”

“Susie’s practically my sister,” Sammy assured him. “Plus, she’s with Ally, remember?”

“Oh. Right.” Wally nodded slowly.

“How much has he had to drink, anyway?” Allison asked, trying desperately not to start laughing.

“He’s had two drinks,” Sammy said. “He’s a real lightweight.”

“No, I’m not!”

“You’ve had two cups of punch.” Sammy scooped Wally up in his arms. “Not even two big cups, either.”

“I like to moderate my drinking!” Wally said indignantly.

“Sure, bud.” Sammy kissed his head.

“You two are so cute together.” Susie sighed.

“We’re cuter,” Allison said, kissing Susie’s cheek.

“You two are cuter.” Sammy agreed. This made Wally whine and wriggle around in Sammy’s arms, trying to get into a cuter position. Sammy tolerated this surprisingly well. But then again, this was Sammy, so he’d likely find some way to get revenge on Wally later. Most likely once his boyfriend was sober again.

“Get a room!” Shawn yelled from across the room.

“Bite me, Flynn!” Sammy yelled back.

“He’s just jealous you got to Wally before he did,” Allison said, patting Sammy’s back. Sammy snorted. Shawn bristled at this, muttering something about everyone at this studio being bastards. Allison just smiled innocently.


	19. Daddy's Little Princess

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> @Rocketman23 was having a bad day so I wrote some Sammy fluff. Featuring the lovely Aria Lawrence Campbell being a cutie.

Aria was Sammy’s pride and joy. He would do almost anything for his little girl. This included anyone and everyone who tried to date her. No one was good enough for his daughter. Aria didn’t exactly mind since her standards were unreasonably high. She really was her father’s daughter. Aria Lawrence Campbell was a hardass perfectionist who loved music more than she loved life itself. Sammy would often bring her to work, something Joey allowed because Aria was a damn cute child, where she would help him with songs or voice act with her mother. She usually did bit parts and child roles.

“You know, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you smile around kids before,” Wally said. He and Sammy were with Norman in the projection room, watching Aria play with the band.

“It’s different when it’s your kid,” Norman said. “Right, Sammy?” Sammy just grunted, never taking his eyes off his daughter.

“Earth to Sammy.” Wally waved his hand in front of Sammy’s face. “We’re talkin’ to you.” Sammy rolled his eyes and turned to glare at the janitor.

“What do you want? I’m watching my daughter.” He snapped.

“Geez.” Wally put his hands up. “We were just talking about how you never smile around kids.”

“It’s different when it’s your own,” Sammy said, turning back to watching Aria. She was telling off some banjo player for presumably talking down to her.

“That’s what Norman said.” Wally leaned against the wall behind him. “Is having kids that great?”

“It’s not for everyone,” Norman said. “But even if you don’t like kids, it’s always different when it’s your own.”

“When I looked into her eyes for the first time…It was like I was looking at an old friend.” Sammy whispered. “I love her more than I ever thought I could.”

“Wow.” Wally’s eyes widened slightly. “That’s…Wow.” He genuinely didn’t know how to respond to this situation. Seeing Sammy so genuinely happy, so tender in his words and gaze, it was weird. Sure, Wally was glad he was happy, but it was weird.

“Franks!” He was snapped out of his trance by the sound of little Aria barking his name.

“Yeah, lil lady?” He stuck his head out over the balcony.

“The pipe’s sprung a leak in Dad’s office!” She cupped her hands so her voice carried farther, not that she needed to though.

“Again?”

“Yes, again!” Aria dropped her hands. “Fix it, please!”

“She’s just like you.” Norman laughed as Wally collected his mop and descended the stairs. Sammy’s smile widened, although he tried to hide it. 10 years old, and already she was acting like she ran the place. Someday, she’d make a fine music director.


	20. Sammy Gets Drunk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More Sammy fluff for @Rocketman23. Sammy gets drunk for a holiday party

 

Inspired by [this](https://ask-joeydrewstudios.tumblr.com/post/168584016945/cozylittleartblog-sammy-always-shows-up-to) post I found on [@ask-joeydrewstudios](https://tmblr.co/mEKj2fvdY3Z3PdYpAcyK9pw)

* * *

Sammy didn’t like holiday parties. At all. The only reason he’d started going to them in the first place had been to get close to Susie. Had it been worth it? In the long run, yes. In the short run, no. The only way he’d managed to get through it was heavy drinking. It had become a sort of tradition now. He’d get obscenely drunk, Susie would put him in a dumb sweater, he’d stumble out to the car, then Susie would drive them to the party. He was never allowed to drive to the holiday parties.

“I don’t wanna goooo,” Sammy whined as he took a swig from the bottle he’d been nursing ever since about 3 pm.

“I know you don’t,” Susie said. “But we’re going anyway because I want to be around my friends.” Not to mention it was practically mandatory. Joey didn’t  _make_ them come, but he always looked disappointed when they didn’t. Joey’s disappointed expression made you feel like you’d crushed his dreams. It was pretty awful.

“Joey’s gonna be weird and satanic and shit.” Sammy draped himself over Susie’s back.

“Yes, he likely will be.” Susie sighed as she fixed her hair.

“And  _Wally_  will be there.” 

“Mm-hm.”

“I don’t wanna see Wally!”

“We won’t stay the whole time, don’t worry.” She turned and kissed his cheek.

“Fine.” Sammy disentangled himself from her, flopping down on the couch. Once Susie was ready and had gotten him into his sweater, they left for the party. Sammy was mostly quiet for the drive over since he was still nursing his bottle. Once they got to the studio, Susie made him put his alcohol into a flask.

“Don’t want to set a bad example for the interns.” She said. Sammy just shrugged. Everyone knew he binge drank during the holiday parties anyway. Unbeknownst to Sammy, it was the event of the season for the studio employees to watch Sammy show up drunk. They even had betting pools on how drunk Sammy would be when he showed up. The people who were usually in the betting pool were Joey, Wally, Shawn, some interns, and occasionally Thomas when he was low on money. Thomas, however, wasn’t there, having left in a slightly better mood than normal. One of the interns had knitted a sweater for his dog. Some money changed hands as Sammy stumbled in, arm around Susie’s shoulder.

“Oh man, he’s totally wasted,” Wally whispered to Shawn.

“I told you he would be,” Shawn whispered back. “He’s been cranky this week.”

“What are you two whispering about?” Joey asked, walking up and putting his arms around them.

“How Sammy’s wasted,” Wally said.

“And how I knew he would be,” Shawn added.

“I’m just glad he showed up,” Joey said, smiling brightly. “It’s always nice having everyone here for the holidays.” Henry stood to the side, watching the whole thing. As usual, everything was a disaster. Sammy was drunk and picking fights, the toons had managed to get sugar so they were bouncing off the walls, and Joey was trying to summon Satan. Again.

“Is he always drunk when he shows up at the parties?” Diane asked, sidling up and putting an arm around Henry’s waist.

“Who, Sammy?” Henry said. “Yeah, usually. He says it’s the only way he gets through this.” At present, Sammy was rolling up his sleeves as he tried to fight Wally.

“Your coworkers certainly are interesting.” Diane kissed Henry’s cheek.

“Sammy no!” Susie yelled, trying to drag her boyfriend back. “You are not fighting Wally again!”

“C’mon, let him try.” Wally was practically dying of laughter. “He can barely stand up straight.” A moment later Wally was on the ground. Sammy might not have been able to stand up straight, but he could apparently still land a punch.

“Fight! Fight! Fight!” One of the interns started chanting.

“No!” Susie grabbed Sammy, practically hoisting him up and dragging him back to the car. Sammy slept on the couch that night.


	21. Pokemon Prompts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some Pokemon prompts from @MsFaust

[Pokemon related-prompts](http://queenofcats17.tumblr.com/post/168650606245/pokemon-related-prompts) 

> -The (probably) angsty one: What if BATIM played out more like Mewtwo Strikes Back  
> -The funny one: Someone’s having trouble with a Gym Leader/catching a Legendary.
> 
> Also, check [this](http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fm.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dn4gikqAZuEY&t=YThkYzkxMjZmZjk2YWU2NTVlZjgxYzU5NTQyM2VmN2U5MTYyODk3ZCxoY2NYeVl3WQ%3D%3D&b=t%3Abf1mUcY3jG5LyWt2YecXMQ&p=http%3A%2F%2Fqueenofcats17.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F168650606245%2Fpokemon-related-prompts&m=1) out. (Note: they didn’t use the entire song.)
> 
>  

Okay, I am down for this, 100%. Mewtwo is my favourite Pokemon and Mewtwo Strikes Back is my favourite childhood movie.

* * *

_They would pay for what they’d done to him. They’d created him then abandoned him. They would all pay for their insolence._

Henry gazed up at the studio. It had certainly gotten a lot bigger since the last time he’d been there. He breathed a sigh of relief. He’d been worried that the studio had gone under after he’d left. He’d felt so guilty for years, thinking his departure had driven the last nail into the coffin of Joey Drew. 

“Is that- Henry! It is you!” Henry turned around, just in time for a blue blur to tackle him. 

“Susie?” Henry looked down at the woman latched onto him. 

“Sorry, I tried to stop her.” A haggard man said, strolling up. 

“Sammy?” Henry frowned. 

“It’s so good to see you!” Susie said, finally letting go. “My God, it’s been so long!” 

“It’s good to see you too.” Henry nodded slowly. “But what are you doing here?”

“We got a letter.” Sammy pulled a crumpled letter out of his back pocket. “I’m guessing you got one too.” Henry nodded, fishing out his own letter. 

“I thought you both still worked here.” He said.

“We quit years ago,” Susie said, her smile quickly fading. “Practically everyone saw how crazy Joey was getting.”

“We got the fuck out as soon as we could.” Sammy put an arm around Susie’s shoulder. “Went about as well as you leaving did.” All three of them exchanged glances before looking at the studio itself. None of them could understand why Joey would want them to come back, considering how badly they’d left things.

“Holy shit!” Sammy bristled at the familiar voice as Wally Franks came running over. 

“Hello, Franks.” Sammy pinched the bridge of his nose. “What are you doing here?”

“I got a letter,” Wally said. “What’re you all doing here?”

“We all got a letter,” Henry said. 

“Wonder what Joey wants us back here for,” Wally said, shoving his hands in his pockets. “I mean, none of us left on good terms.”

“Well, we’ll never know if we don’t go in,” Henry said, forcing a smile. “Why don’t we see what Joey wants to show us?” He then turned and opened the door. Inside, they found a bustling work environment. It wasn’t too dissimilar from the studio back when they’d been working there. The difference? All the workers seemed to be sentient blobs of ink.

“What the-” Sammy muttered, only to be cut off by a familiar face appearing in front of them.

“Welcome to Joey Drew Studios!”

“Joey?” Henry asked. The creature before them, which resembled a toon version of Joey, grinned and bowed.

“That’s me!” He said. “Good to see you all got my letters!”

“You’re a fucking cartoon,” Sammy said. “Why are you a fucking cartoon?”

“Ah ah ah.” Joey wagged his finger at the former music director. “Language, Sammy. We’re a family-friendly studio.”

“Yeah, but why are you a cartoon?” Wally asked.

“We’ll get to that,” Joey assured them. “But for now, would you like to see how much we’ve accomplished since the change in management?”

“The change in management?” Susie tilted her head to the side. “What are you talking about? Are you not in charge of the studio anymore?”

“It’s a long story. We’ll get to it.” Joey was already starting to walk away. “Follow me. Follow me.”

_He watched from his office as Joey led them deeper into the studio. He’d gathered them all together for this moment, to witness the creation they’d all tried to destroy. He would have his vengeance. He would not be forgotten._

.

.

 

“FUCK!”

Bendy stopped what he’d been doing. That hadn’t been Sammy’s voice. Normally when someone started yelling curse words it was usually Sammy. But that had been Wally’s voice. Bendy crept to the janitor’s closet, where he found Wally hunched over a DS.

“Whatcha doin’?” Bendy asked.

“Playing Pokemon,” Wally said. “I can’t beat this stupid Nihilego!”

“Can I watch?” Bendy didn’t even wait for Wally’s response before snuggling up to Wally to watch the janitor try to beat the Pokemon.

“Who’s the lady in the Pokemon?” Bendy asked. “Why’s she all black and stuff?”

“That’s Lusamine. She’s the villain of the game.” Wally explained. “She fused with the Pokemon for power and stuff.”

“Like what Joey tried to do with the ink?”

“…Yeah. Kinda.” Wally had to stop for a second and realize how similar to this video game his life was.

“Are you having an existential crisis?” Bendy asked.

“Yeah.”


	22. Bendy Strikes Back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More on the angst prompt from the last chapter.

So the original prompt was from [@magicalmonsterhero](https://tmblr.co/mctfDpl6LStDVGfHpM3ZLTA) and [@liliflower137](https://tmblr.co/m6IUUxKDNGCvV8dmwLG96Vg)wanted some more of it, so here we go. 

* * *

_They would pay for what they’d done to him. They’d created him then abandoned him. They would all pay for their insolence._

Henry gazed up at the studio. It had certainly gotten a lot bigger since the last time he’d been there. He breathed a sigh of relief. He’d been worried that the studio had gone under after he’d left. He’d felt so guilty for years, thinking his departure had driven the last nail into the coffin of Joey Drew.

“Is that- Henry! It is you!” Henry turned around, just in time for a blue blur to tackle him. 

“Susie?” Henry looked down at the woman latched onto him. 

“Sorry, I tried to stop her.” A haggard man said, strolling up. 

“Sammy?” Henry frowned. 

“It’s so good to see you!” Susie said, finally letting go. “My God, it’s been so long!” 

“It’s good to see you too.” Henry nodded slowly. “But what are you doing here?”

“We got a letter.” Sammy pulled a crumpled letter out of his back pocket. “I’m guessing you got one too.” Henry nodded, fishing out his own letter. 

“I thought you both still worked here.” He said.

“We quit years ago,” Susie said, her smile quickly fading. “Practically everyone saw how crazy Joey was getting.”

“We got the fuck out as soon as we could.” Sammy put an arm around Susie’s shoulder. “Went about as well as you leaving did.” All three of them exchanged glances before looking at the studio itself. None of them could understand why Joey would want them to come back, considering how badly they’d left things.

“Holy shit!” Sammy bristled at the familiar voice as Wally Franks came running over. 

“Hello, Franks.” Sammy pinched the bridge of his nose. “What are you doing here?”

“I got a letter,” Wally said. “What’re you all doing here?”

“We all got a letter,” Henry said. 

“Wonder what Joey wants us back here for,” Wally said, shoving his hands in his pockets. “I mean, none of us left on good terms.”

“Well, we’ll never know if we don’t go in,” Henry said, forcing a smile. “Why don’t we see what Joey wants to show us?” He then turned and opened the door. Inside, they found a bustling work environment. It wasn’t too dissimilar from the studio back when they’d been working there. The difference? All the workers seemed to be sentient blobs of ink.

“What the-” Sammy muttered, only to be cut off by a familiar face appearing in front of them.

“Welcome to Joey Drew Studios!”

“Joey?” Henry asked. The creature before them, which resembled a toon version of Joey, grinned and bowed.

“That’s me!” He said. “Good to see you all got my letters!”

“You’re a fucking cartoon,” Sammy said. “Why are you a fucking cartoon?”

“Ah ah ah.” Joey wagged his finger at the former music director. “Language, Sammy. We’re a family-friendly studio.”

“Yeah, but why are you a cartoon?” Wally asked.

“We’ll get to that,” Joey assured them. “But for now, would you like to see how much we’ve accomplished since the change in management?”

“The change in management?” Susie tilted her head to the side. “What are you talking about? Are you not in charge of the studio anymore?”

“It’s a long story. We’ll get to it.” Joey was already starting to walk away. “Follow me. Follow me.”

_He watched from his office as Joey led them deeper into the studio. He’d gathered them all together for this moment, to witness the creation they’d all tried to destroy. He would have his vengeance. He would not be forgotten._

_._

_._

 

The studio really had changed since they’d left. It was huge and far more successful than it had ever been while any of them had worked there. Every one of the ink blobs worked with more efficiency than a human worker, never stopping and never tiring. Then a bell rang and they all stopped, beginning to mill about and converse.

“At least your new boss still gives breaks,” Sammy said, hands shoved in his pockets.

“Of course,” Joey said. “It’s only ethical.”

“I have to admit, I never thought you’d hand over the reigns of this studio to anyone,” Henry said as he looked around. “This place was always your baby.”

“Sometimes changes need to be made in order for something to thrive.” Joey shrugged. “I’m still the studio head, but I answer to a higher power now.”

“Like the Devil?” Wally snickered, fully intending it to simply be a joke.

“Something like that,” Joey said, a small smile playing on his features.

“Wait, wha-”

“Ah! We’re at the music department!” Joey descended the stairs before anyone could stop him, gesturing for the others to follow. “I’m sure Alice and Boris are hard at work!”

“Boris?” Henry asked.

“Alice?” Susie’s face lit up. “Alice is…alive?”

“Of course she is.” Joey laughed as if this was something completely normal. “And I can tell you she’s been very excited to meet you.”

“Where is she?” Susie looked wildly around.

“She’s in the recording booth. Go on.” Joey stepped aside to let her run past. Sammy followed tentatively behind her, not wanting her to go off on her own when they didn’t know what was going on.

“You actually managed to bring cartoons to life?” Henry asked, barely able to believe what he’d heart. “How?”

“With the ink machine, of course!” Joey said. “And the help of my benefactor.”

“If you wouldn’t mind, I think I’d like to meet this benefactor,” Henry said. “I have a lot of questions for them.” Joey’s smile faltered a bit at this.

“Not right now.” He said, shaking his head. “Not here.” Well, that was familiar at least. Leave it to Joey to never answer anyone’s questions.

“So, why are we here?” Wally asked.

“I wanted to show you all I’ve done,” Joey said, spreading his hands wide. “And offer you a chance to come back.”

“You want us…back?” Henry frowned. “But…You were furious when we left.”

“It’s all in the past.” Joey waved a hand dismissively. “I’ve seen the error of my ways. I was wrong to try and keep you all here. But I do want you back. I want to have what we had before.” Henry hesitated. He’d be lying if he said he didn’t miss working with Joey.

“I mean, are you sure you really want me back?” Wally asked. “I was kind of a crappy janitor.”

“You’re still part of the family,” Joey assured him. “It hasn’t been the same without you here.”

“Okay.” Wally shrugged. “I’ll think about it.” Then he wandered off to check out the studio more.

“Shall we continue?” Joey asked.

“Uh…Sure.” Henry said. He followed Joey again. He couldn’t help but feel as if someone was watching him.


	23. Violet Christmas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wally's new adopted daughter gets a crush on Susie and Sammy's daughter Aria. To impress her, she tries to learn to play violin in time for the annual holiday party.

Wally’s daughter had a crush on Aria, and Aria had absolutely no idea. Eliza Franks had been adopted by Wally when she was 12 years old. She was a small, very brown girl with just as many freckles as Wally, and similarly wild hair. Wally had wanted to adopt since he was currently in a same sex relationship, and there were a lot of orphaned children who needed homes. He and Shawn had fallen in love with Eliza the second they’d met her. She was a little bit of a jokester, like Wally, and an extremely determined and boisterous little girl. All of this went out the window the moment she met Aria Lawrence Campbell. Wally had been showing his new daughter around the studio when they’d bumped into Aria. Aria had been tasked with hanging up some Christmas decorations, along with a good portion of the interns. She was 14 at that point.

“Franks.” Aria inclined her head towards Wally. “Who’s this?”

“This is Eliza.” Wally put a hand on Eliza’s shoulder. “She’s my daughter now.” 

“Welcome to the family.” Aria nodded to Eliza, giving her a small smile. “I apologize in advance for everything you’ll experience here.”

“Hey! Don’t scare her!” Wally said, swatting at Aria’s shoulder. Aria giggled and darted away with her decorations. 

“Don’t listen to her, she’s just being dramatic.” Wally looked down to Eliza, only to find her staring after Aria with a wistful look on her face. 

“Holy fuck.” Wally whispered. 

“She’s the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen.” Eliza said dreamily. “Who is she?”

“That’s Aria.” Wally said. “She’s the daughter of our music director Sammy and Alice’s voice actress Susie.” Eliza nodded, still in a daze. 

For the next week or so, Eliza found reasons to come to the studio to be around Aria. It was Christmas break, so it wasn’t like she had to go to school. Aria was almost always at the studio when she wasn’t at school. Of her own choice, of course. She loved the studio. Well, she loved bossing people around, really. Just like her father. Eliza followed Aria around a lot, always just out of sight, always watching her and sighing. She jumped at any excuse to be around Aria, whether it was cleaning or fixing pipes. She loved watching Aria ‘work’. She found the other girl so vibrant, so strong. Everyone who wasn’t Aria noticed that Eliza was head over heels for the little diva. 

“Your kid has a crush on my kid.” Sammy cornered Wally in the break room one day, hands on his hips. 

“Mm-hm.” Wally had a mouth full or doughnuts, so he couldn’t really elaborate.

“We need to do something about this.” Sammy said. 

“Uh, okay?” Wally frowned. “What are you suggesting?”

“I don’t know. I just think something needs to be done.” 

Wally gave him a deadpan look. “So you just cornered me to tell me something I already know and announce that you have no plan.”

“Um, Mr. Lawrence?” Sammy felt a tug on his shirt and turned around to find Eliza Franks standing there. 

“Hi, pumpkin.” Wally waved to her. She waved half-heartedly back. 

“What is it?” Sammy asked, his tone softening a bit. He could never bring himself to yell at kids. 

“I want to learn to play an instrument.” Eliza said, nodding solemnly. “I want to impress your daughter.”

“You do, do you?” Sammy raised an eyebrow. 

“Yes.” Eliza said. “She’s very pretty and I like her spirit.” Sammy was trying very hard not to start laughing. The 12 year old determination was very cute. 

“Alright.” He said. “I’ll see what I can do.” Eliza’s goal was to learn an instrument in time for the Christmas party. This didn’t give them a lot of time, but Eliza was still determined to do it. She decided on the violin, because she thought it was romantic. Sammy couldn’t help but find it cute. Still, he had to do his duty and intimidate her. To her credit, Eliza didn’t show many outward signs of being afraid. She was completely focused on mastering the violin. By the time the holiday party rolled around, she was...Well, her playing was passible. It wasn’t great, but it wasn’t screechy either. 

“You ready, kiddo?” Wally asked as he, Shawn, and Eliza entered the studio. 

“You’ve really been working at this.” Shawn ruffled Eliza’s hair. She made an irritated noise, hands going to her head. 

“Daaaad.” She groaned. 

“Sorry, sorry.” Shawn laughed, hands going to his pockets. “So, you ready?”

“I’m ready.” Eliza nodded, cracking her knuckles. They were holding the party in the break room, but Eliza went straight for Sammy’s office. He was ready with the violin. 

“So, you’re really doing this.” He said, leaning back in his chair. 

“I’m doing it.” Eliza said. “Or are you going to stop me?” Sammy raised an eyebrow. 

“Sweetheart, you really shouldn’t try to menace me.” He stood up, drawing himself to his full height. He was a good deal taller than her. Eliza stood her ground, but her legs were shaking. 

“I’m doing this.” She said. “I’m going to woo your daughter.”

“Just be careful.” Sammy handed her the instrument. “And don’t hurt her. You know what’ll happen if you do.” 

“I won’t.” Eliza took the violin, smiling a little. “As long as I get her to smile, I’ll be happy.” And with that, she marched up to the break room. Aria was off to the side, talking with her mother and the other female employees. Eliza cleared her throat loudly, positioning herself under the mistletoe. 

“I would like to play a song for everyone.” She announced. Everyone turned to stare at her. Once she had their attention, she began playing. It was a little scratchy and a little rough, but she did well enough. When she was done, everyone applauded politely. Aria was smiling and laughing a little bit. This made Eliza grin. She’d done it! She’d made Aria smile!

“Did you like it?” She asked, once she’d put the violin away. 

“I did.” Aria said. “You need work, but it was a good first try.” 

“I wanted to impress you.” Eliza admitted, pulling at her hair. 

Aria’s eyes widened slightly. “You...Do you have a crush on me?”

“You are literally one of the only people in the studio who didn’t know.” Cordelia patted her head as she passed by. Aria looked away, her face turning bright red. Eliza tried to stifle her laughter, but ended up practically dying on the floor.

“Shut up!” Aria said, stamping her foot. 

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” Eliza wiped away some tears. “It’s just cute.”

“I’m not cute.” Aria protested. “I’m regal!”

“You’re both.” Eliza said. “Um, do you want some eggnog?”

“That would be nice, thanks.”


	24. A Man And His Dog

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here's a little snippet about ask-joeydrewstudios' Thomas and his dog. He deserves to be happy.

So, I wanted to write something with [@ask-joeydrewstudios](https://tmblr.co/mEKj2fvdY3Z3PdYpAcyK9pw) Thomas and his dog Poppy, and how happy she makes him. 

Featuring, very briefly, [@scipunk63](https://tmblr.co/mCBKLcpDFuU_S3Voe5xt3mQ)‘s Jay Connor.

* * *

 

If there was one thing Thomas could always count on to bring a smile to his face, it was Poppy. No matter what happened, Poppy was there for him. He’d gotten her just after his wife had left him and she’d saved his life, almost literally. He’d been drinking himself into oblivion almost every day, never leaving his house. His brother had suggested he adopt a dog at that point. Thomas hadn’t wanted to hear it, but Jay had insisted, dragging him to a shelter. Even when they’d been there, Thomas had been determined not to go along with his brother’s plans. 

But then he’d caught sight of a little golden retriever puppy shivering in one of the cages. Immediately, his heart had melted. He’d taken Poppy home and that had been that.He didn’t want to admit that his brother had been right, but his life had improved a bit since adopting Poppy. He looked forward to coming home again, he stopped drinking. Poppy made life worth living again. She was the light of his life and he loved her more than anything else. Maybe not more than his daughter, but it wasn’t like he was ever going to see her again.

When Christmas had rolled around, he’d expected that he would go home and spend the day with Poppy. He’d picked out some new toys for her and he was sure she’d like them. Then an intern had come running up to him with a bag.

“What?” He asked, giving her a dirty look. He just wanted to go home and avoid being anywhere near this damn studio when the holiday party rolled around.

“I, um, I heard you have a dog.” The intern stammered. “And, um, I didn’t know her measurements, but I knitted her a sweater!” She shoved the bag in his face, avoiding looking at him. Thomas raised an eyebrow and took the bag, looking inside. Inside was a pink knitted sweater. It looked like it might be a bit too big for Poppy, but the thought was sweet in any case.

“Thanks.” He said, his severe look softening a little bit.

“You’re welcome.” The intern nodded and ran off. Thomas smiled to himself as he left. It looked like Poppy was going to get another Christmas present. Good. She deserved it.


	25. Reunions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A direct response to Chapter 39 of @Gears112's Inky Sketches.

The day after she’d escaped from the studio was rough. She was taken to the hospital due to her ankle and the amount of ink on her body. There was some concern that she’d gotten ink poisoning. Throughout all of this, Cordelia was silent and dejected.

“So.” Roy said, sitting next to her in the hospital room. “You saw Sammy.”

“I did.” She stared down at her lap. The mere thought of that thing....The thing that had once been her mentor, it was enough to make her start to cry. Roy sighed and moved closer, wrapping his arms around her.

“It’s okay.” He said. All of a sudden, the door burst open and Nancy Lawrence came running in, followed by Joshua.

“Nancy, we shouldn’t be here.” Joshua was saying, trying to drag Nancy back. But Nancy would not be swayed. She ran up to Cordelia’s bed, grabbing her by the shoulders.

“I heard you went to the studio.” Nancy said, eyes wild. “Did you see my brother? Please tell me you saw Sammy!” For a split second, the world seemed to freeze. Cordelia’s heart dropped to her stomach. She couldn’t tell Nancy what she’d seen. It would break the other woman’s heart. So she dropped her head and closed her eyes.

“No.” She whispered. Nancy didn’t need to know how twisted her brother had become.

“What happened?” Joshua asked.

“I...I stopped getting letters from Sammy and I thought maybe he was still at the studio.” Cordelia focused on playing with the sheets. “But he wasn’t there. There were only monsters made of ink.”

“Monsters made of ink?” Joshua frowned. Cordelia nodded slowly, feeling tears rising up. She started crying a moment later, burying her head in her hands. Roy got the others out of the room, letting his sister have some time alone.

Things after that were...quiet. No one asked Cordelia about what she’d seen in the studio. A good portion of her students did ask her why she had a giant cast on her leg, but she made up a good deal of interesting excuses that pacified the curiosity of the children. Joshua came by the house a lot to make sure she was alright. He didn’t want to ask what had happened, but he knew it had been pretty bad. A few months after the incident, Cordelia let slip something that worried Joshua even more. They were out for coffee, all bundled up since it was winter.

“You know,” Cordelia said, staring into her coffee. “I never thought Joey would go this far.”

“What do you mean?” Joshua asked.

“The studio...” She said. “It was so much worse than I could have ever imagined.”

“You’re safe now.” He put an arm around her. Cordelia said nothing, but moved closer to him.

A few months after that, the group was assembled. Father Lawrence headed the group, determined to find out what had happened to his eldest son. No one hurt his children. Especially not Joey Drew.

“They shouldn’t go.” Cordelia said when she found out what they were doing.

“They’re just going to get answers.” Nancy assured her.

“They’re going to die in there.” Cordelia began to hyperventilate, pulling at her hair.

“They’ll be fine, don’t worry.” Nancy tried to calm her down, patting the other woman’s back. “It’s just a cartoon studio. What’s the worst that can happen?” She’d regret those words. Days later, only one man emerged from the studio. The man raved about creatures of ink, dark magic, and Joey Drew turning into a monster. Cordelia could only look on as all this transpired. She should have told them what she’d seen. But would it really have made a difference? Nancy was inconsolable for the next week. She and her father hadn’t been on the best of terms, but he’d been her father nonetheless. Mrs Lawrence was stoic at the funeral and afterwards. She never shed a tear in public. Everyone could see how much the Lawrence family was hurting in the wake of their death. Even Joshua seemed affected. But he soldiered on.

“We need to believe it’ll be alright.” He said when Cordelia came to him, crying her eyes out. “If we give up hope, we’ll just be miserable. I know it’s hard to see that there is a future beyond this, but there is. We’re going to be alright.”

“That’s...Thanks.” She smiled a little. “I really needed that.”

“No problem.” He smiled back. “Now, um, I do need to get  back to work.”

“Right, me too.” She turned and quickly left.

Years went by before Henry returned to the studio. Cordelia had warned him against going, hoping to save his life at least, but he hadn’t listened to her. Then again, Henry had always been stubborn. But he managed to get out of the studio. And he brought Sammy with him. Cordelia couldn’t believe it when she saw him again. For a moment, she was back in the studio, 19 years old and bringing him coffee. She almost broke down crying right there. But she didn’t.

“It’s been a long time.” She said once Sammy had had his moment with his mother.

“Yeah, it has been.” Sammy avoided looking at her. “Look, about what happened-”

“Don’t worry about it.” She said. “It’s been a long time. I forgive you.” Joshua had been right. Things _were_ going to be okay. Especially now that Sammy was alright.


	26. The Trial

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A request by Lala based on the trial episode from Batman: The Animated Series

 Lala:

I just watched Batman the episode trial and it made me want to see a fluff with Sammy being the prosecutor, bendy being the defendant with Boris as his lawyer and Alice the judge. Susie wally norman henry can be the jury. victims of the prank would be witnesses. Bendy pulls a prank and Sammy goes off. Someone insists they go to court as a joke but they take it seriously. Wow, this was just an idea that popped into my head and I just kept going. This was supposed to be a suggestion but it was basically a summary of the chapter. Anyway thanks for taking the time to read this and list know you don't have to make this into a chapter.

 

* * *

 

None of them was sure how they’d gotten to this point. But here they were, in a makeshift courtroom they’d set up in the break room, putting Bendy on trial for his pranks. Sammy was the prosecutor, Boris the defence lawyer. Alice served as the judge since she was the most impartial. Susie, Wally, Norman, and Henry were the jury, while Thomas and Grant served as witnesses.  The idea had come from Joey after Sammy had stormed into Joey’s office after Bendy had pranked him. Again.

“Well, why don’t you have a trial?” Joey asked, folding his hands on his desk. 

“....I’m not even going to ask where this came from,” Sammy said, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“We’ve been watching Batman the Animated Series,” Norman said. “We just watched the trial episode.”

“I think it’s a great idea,” Alice said, smiling deviously. “We can determine Bendy’s innocence once and for all.”

“Alice, sweetie, there’s no question about whether or not he’s guilty.” Susie patted the angel’s shoulder. 

“Well, we’ll have to have the trial, won’t we?” Bendy folded his arms. “Innocent until proven guilty!” Sammy groaned loudly but went along with it anyway. They set up a mock courtroom in the break room, pushing a lot of the tables to the side. It was frankly ridiculous, but they were doing it. Susie, Henry, Wally, and Norman took their places in the jury box, while Grant and Thomas sat in the witness box. Sammy at one table while Boris and Bendy sat at another. And in the middle of it all was Alice. She’d gotten some judges robes out of hammerspace and she was really enjoying her role as judge. 

“Present your opening statements!” She said, banging her gavel on the table. Boris pushed his chair back, clearing his throat loudly. 

“Your honour!” He announced. “My defendant, Bendy the Dancing Demon, is completely innocent of the slanderous charges levelled against him! He is a kind and caring demon who would never do anything to harm anyone!” Then he sat down, tail wagging. Sammy sighed and got up. 

“Look, we all know Bendy’s guilty.” He said. “Honestly, I don’t even know why we’re doing this. I’m still covered in ink that that little shit dumped on me!” He gestured to his ink covered clothing. 

“I’d like to point out he got me too,” Thomas said. 

“Lies! Slander!” Bendy struck a dramatic pose.

“You dumped the ink on us!” Sammy yelled. “We have witnesses!”

“I saw it happen.” Henry raised his hand. 

“So did I,” Susie said. 

“The jury’s supposed to be impartial!” Bendy whined. 

“No, the judge is supposed to be impartial,” Alice said, smiling sweetly. “The jury decides your fate. And they seem to agree that you’re guilty.”

“This trial is a sham!” Bendy flipped the table. 

“Of course it’s a sham!” Sammy yelled. “None of us are qualified to run a trial! We work at a cartoon studio!” That was when they started throwing things at each other. Susie was on her feet in moments, whooping and cheering. Norman just watched, while Henry tried to hide. Wally was outta there the second the table got flipped. 

“Can I go?” Grant asked, glancing at his watch. “The finance report won’t do itself.”

“No one’s gonna stop us.” Thomas shrugged and the two of them left amidst the chaos. It took about ten minutes for the fight to wind down. Throughout all this, Alice just watched with an innocent smile on her face. She was enjoying this a great deal. 

“Alice, did you instigate a fight again?” Joey asked when he entered the break room. 

“Me?” Alice fluttered her eyelashes. “I wouldn’t hurt a fly~”


	27. Tsundere Alice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A request from MsFaust

> by [@magicalmonsterhero](https://tmblr.co/mctfDpl6LStDVGfHpM3ZLTA)
> 
> Kinda weird idea: what if Alice/‘Alice’ had a [tsundere personality](http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Ftvtropes.org%2Fpmwiki%2Fpmwiki.php%2FMain%2FTsundere&t=YTRlYzNiMjVjMDAyZjg1NWYwYWM1ZTVhYjFjZWUyMmVjZmFhMjkzYSw3Ym1qWTFSUg%3D%3D&b=t%3Abf1mUcY3jG5LyWt2YecXMQ&p=http%3A%2F%2Fqueenofcats17.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F168764232050%2Fby-magicalmonsterhero-kinda-weird-idea-what-if&m=1)?
> 
> “No! I don’t like you! I just want to get out of here and see Susie, that’s all! Stupidjerkfacestupidwolfstupidinkdemon…”

That’s an interesting idea. 

* * *

When Alice had first been summoned, she had not been at all cooperative. She’d folded her arms and refused to talk to anyone. 

“No! I don’t like you!” She said, refusing to look at Joey. 

“Well, would you like to see Susie?” Joey asked. “She’s your voice actress.” Alice side eyed him. 

“You’re just trying to get rid of me.” She huffed, turning her nose up at the studio owner. “It’s not like I’m interested in you.” Joey didn’t know how to deal with people on the best of days, so this was absolutely a nightmare. 

“Alright.” He slowly got up. “Susie? You can come in now.” Susie threw the door open, running in. 

“She’s really here!” Susie squealed, clapping her hands together. “I can’t believe it! She’s just as beautiful as she is in the cartoons!” 

Alice’s cheeks flushed grey, but she quickly turned away. “Of course I am! It’s not like you’re pretty, though. You’re an ugly hag!” 

“Ah, she really is just like the cartoons.” Susie sighed, resting her head in her hands. 

“Would…Would you like her to leave?” Joey asked. 

“No! She stays!” Alice stamped her foot. 

“I’m confused.” Joey looked from Susie to Alice. “Why is she acting like this?”

“You made her a tsundere, remember?” Susie said. “It means she lashes out to hide her true feelings.”

“I’m not like that at all!”

“Right.” Why had he done that again? 

“Why don’t we go around the studio?” Susie suggested, holding her hand out to Alice. Alice frowned but took it. 

“I’m not doing this because I like you.” She said. 

“I know, sweetie.” Susie smiled kindly and led Alice out of Joey’s office and into the main studio. Alice glared at everyone who even got near Susie, causing more than a few interns to run away. Sammy was working away when they entered his office. 

“Sammy? We have a new addition to the studio.” Susie said. Sammy turned around slowly. 

“Oh.” His eyes widened slightly. “Yeah, that’s new.” Alice latched onto Susie, glaring at Sammy like he was trying to steal her toy. 

“Yeah, she’s about what I expected.” Sammy sighed. 

“What does that mean?!” Alice demanded. 

“Nothing nothing.” Sammy threw his hands in the air and turned back around to get back to work. Susie sighed. Yep. This was going to be interesting. 


	28. Joey Gets Drunk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The studio crew finds out what drunk Joey is like.

**[inkavixentheinkdemon](https://inkavixentheinkdemon.tumblr.com/) asked: OK think of this: What if, like, Joey would act normal when he go drunk. Just think about it. XD Just imagine Sammy's reaction. "HEY GET JOEY SOME MORE ALCOHOL OVER HERE!!" If your still doing the prompts, could you possibly whip something up?**

One interesting thing the studio crew had learned about Joey was that he acted almost the same way drunk that he did when he was sober. They learned this at one of the later holiday parties when Henry noticed Joey had knocked back at least 4 glasses of the punch Wally had spiked.

“Are…Are you okay?” Henry asked. “You drank four glasses of punch.”

“I feel fine,” Joey said brightly.

“You aren’t…drunk?”

“Oh, I most definitely am.”

Henry looked over to see Wally sipping the punch and frowning. He whispered something to Susie, who looked over at Sammy, who was completely shitfaced by this point, and nodded.

“Then why isn’t Joey drunk?!” Wally said, the words coming out louder than he’d anticipated.

“Joey’s drunk.” Henry said. “He just…apparently doesn’t act weird when he’s drunk?”

“HEY, GET JOEY SOME MORE ALCOHOL OVER HERE!” Sammy yelled, swaying as he held his cup aloft. Susie just sighed and tried to get him to sit back down. Wally immediately got more punch and shoved it at Joey, who gladly drank it.

“Hey! Don’t get him too drunk!” Henry said. “I don’t want him to get alcohol poisoning!”

“Let them do it,” Norman said, holding up a video camera. “I want to tape some incriminating evidence.”

“You’re all terrible,” Henry said, before sitting down.

As the night continued, it turned out that drunk Joey wasn’t exactly like normal Joey. Drunk Joey was so mind-numbingly boring it was almost unbelievable. They learned this when Sammy, even drunker by this point, had suggested they summon something.

“Rituals are silly and harmful,” Joey said. “It would be irresponsible to do one.” Nearly everyone spat out their drinks, unable to believe what they’d heard.

“But rituals are your thing,” Wally said, beginning to sway a bit. “You always summon shit.”

“We’re all very drunk, it would be irresponsible,” Joey said, shaking his head.

“Oh my God,” Sammy said. “Drunk’s Joey’s  _boring_.”

Later, when everyone dispersed, Henry was the one to drive Joey home. He had a bad feeling the next day was going to be a shitshow. Sure enough, the next morning Norman showed Joey the tape he’d recorded of the party and Joey flipped out when he saw the part where he denounced rituals.

“This has to be edited!” He said. “I’d never say that!”

“You did say it,” Henry said, trying not to sigh. “I was there. Everyone was there.”

“My faith will never be shaken!” Joey yelled, standing up and banging his fist on the table. “I WANT FRANKS’ HEAD ON A PLATTER!” Wally, who had been passing by, immediately ran down to hide in the music department. He stayed there the rest of the day. 

* * *

Another ending by [@phoena12](https://tmblr.co/m4zzgIg40wGyqWrbVCrWeVw)

Joey can be found for the rest of the day rocking back and forth surrounded by so many ritual books just muttering “I’ll never lose faith” over and over 

“Hey, Henry I think joey broke?” Wally calls from joey’s office, a look of fear and pity upon the man’s face 

“What do you-” Henry begins but cuts himself short upon seeing the state of his boss. There sat a once proud and very intellectual man turned mad and, in all respects, batshit crazy as the soft murmurs of “I’ll never lose faith” are chanted relentlessly.

“WHERE DID HE EVEN GET THAT MANY BOOKS!” Henry is perturbed by said amount of books. On occasion, when entering joey’s darkened office, one or 2 ritual books could be spotted. But now the man had seemingly amassed a whole library of the damn things as he sits, rocking ever so slightly, surrounded by books of varying colours and sizes. 

Henry groans and wally snickers from the side. He receives a sharp glare from the older man. 

“You caused this, you fix it!” Henry throws up his hands in exasperation and stomps back down the hallway.

“Wait, no! Henry! You’re only one who knows how to deal with his crazy ass!”

“Precisely!”


	29. Violet Christmas 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eliza plans to propose to Aria during the holiday party.

It had been years since the first time Eliza had impressed Aria with her violin skills, although they hadn’t been skills back when she’d been 12. Now, they’d been dating for nearly 7 years, and were each 24 and 26 respectively. They’d been working at the studio almost the entire time. Aria had been made assistant music director and Eliza had become a permanent member of the janitorial staff. Eliza was almost always covered in ink, much like her fathers. Even though Aria turned her nose up at her girlfriend’s inky clothing, she still kissed her at the end of every day. Eliza liked to tease her about what a stick in the mud she could be, while Aria liked to tease Eliza about how silly she could be. They were happy together. Seeing how happy Eliza made Aria, Sammy mostly held off on being the shotgun dad. Although he still liked intimidating her every so often. It was fun. At this point, it was a bit of a joke between Eliza and Sammy. She never once thought of leaving Aria over it. However, as the Christmas season drew near, Sammy found she was reacting less and less to his attempts. He was going to ask her about it, but she found him first. 

It was the day of the holiday party, which meant Sammy was drinking heavily. He was halfway through his bottle of wine when Eliza knocked on his door. 

“I need to talk to you.” She said. Susie peeked out from behind her, waving. 

“Mm?” Sammy looked up from his wine. “What about?” Eliza and Susie entered the room, closing the door behind themselves. Eliza shifted from foot to foot, fidgeting. 

“You’re nervous.” Sammy got up from his desk.

“She wouldn’t tell me what it was about.” Susie said. “Just that it’s important.” Eliza took a deep breath. 

“I want to propose to your daughter.” She said. 

“You...What?” Sammy blinked. 

“That’s wonderful!” Susie squealed, jumping up and down. “Do you have a ring?”

“I do.” Eliza nodded and pulled out a ring box. It was fairly plain, and the ring inside was nothing special. A janitor’s salary would only go so far after all. But it was the thought that counted.

“Oh, darling!” Susie hugged her. “I’m so happy for you!”

“I want your blessing.” Eliza slipped the ring box back into her pocket. Now that she’d gotten what she wanted to say out, she was a bit more confident. She stared down Sammy defiantly, as if daring him to disagree with her. It was just like when she’d been 12. 

“From one of us?” Sammy asked, unable to resist the chance to be a smartass. 

“From both of you.” Eliza tried very hard not to roll her eyes. “It would mean a lot to Aria for both of you to approve of this. She really cares what you two think. If we’re going to do this, I want her to be happy and comfortable.”

“You really love her, don’t you?” Sammy smiled softly. It really was sweet, seeing how much Eliza loved his daughter. Even if he gave her shit, even if he hated her father, she was the best girlfriend she could be for his daughter. 

“I do,” Eliza said. “More than I can possibly say.”

“Well, you have my blessing,” Susie said. “I would absolutely love to have you as a daughter in law.”

“And you, Mr Lawrence?” Eliza turned to Sammy, the defiant look in her eyes once more.

“I may not be fond of your father, but I’m fond of you.” Sammy patted her shoulder. 

“I think that’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me,” Eliza said, grinning.

“And if you tell anyone I said it, I will feed you to the ink machine.” Sammy smiled tightly. “Now go propose to my daughter.”

“Yessir!” Eliza did a mock salute and left. 

“That was so sweet of you.” Susie wrapped her arms around him. “Is the wine making you more affectionate?”

“Can’t I be nice?” Sammy asked, kissing the top of her head. “I’m allowed to be nice.”

“Mm. I don’t know about that.” Susie said. “Your niceness is selective.” 

Sammy rolled his eyes. “Just help me finish this bottle of wine.”

Upstairs, Eliza had entered the office holiday party. She could see Aria in the corner berating some interns for drinking irresponsibly. 

“Hey, sweetie.” Wally snuck up behind her and patted her back. “All set?”

“All set.” She said. “Make sure Uncle Norman’s recording. I want this on tape.” 

“Shawn’s already on it.” Wally said. “Knock ‘em dead.” Eliza nodded and waded through the crowd to get to Aria. Aria smiled upon seeing Eliza, drawing her close to give her a peck. 

“Hello, darling,” Aria said. “I was wondering where you’d gone.”

“I was just having a talk with your parents,” Eliza said. “Your dad’s drunk again.”

Aria rolled her eyes. “He always drinks to get through the holiday parties. Anyway, what were you talking to them about?”

Eliza took a deep breath. This was the moment of truth. She was going to do this. She was going to ask her girlfriend to marry her. She took Aria’s hand in hers, smiling. 

“I wanted to get their blessing.” She said. Aria frowned for a moment before recognition began to dawn on her face. Eliza got down on one knee, fishing the ring out of her pocket. 

“Aria Lawrence Campbell. There’s no one I’d rather spend the rest of my life with. So, will you marry me?”

Aria’s hand flew to her mouth. There were tears welling up in her eyes. 

“You planned this.” Aria started laughing. “You sneaky little bitch!”

“I’m  _ your _ sneaky little bitch.” Eliza grinned.

“You are.” Aria pulled Eliza to her feet and kissed her. “Yes, I will marry you.” The room exploded in applause as Eliza slipped the ring onto Aria’s finger. 

“My baby girl’s getting married!” Shawn was starting to cry, clinging onto Wally. Wally was getting a little teary-eyed as well. His little girl was getting married. Time really did fly. 


	30. Quote Prompts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some quote prompts from MsFaust

> Prompts by [@magicalmonsterhero](https://tmblr.co/mctfDpl6LStDVGfHpM3ZLTA)
> 
> Quotes:  
> -“You can have me. Just leave my employees alone, and my soul is yours.” (Joey)  
> -“Don’t worry, [Henry/Boris]. I’ve got him.” (Susie)
> 
> And a holiday bonus: BATIM, Die Hard style. :)

This is going to be good. >:3 This will be very angsty heavy. Also, I’m not entirely sure how to do BATIM as Die Hard. ^^” I’m very tired.

* * *

Joey Drew was an ambitious man. He would do whatever he had to in order to get what he wanted. He had little regard for the lives of anyone but himself. He worked his employees to the bone and tolerated nothing less than perfection. However, it didn’t occur to him how low he’d fallen until he was face to face with a demon. Joey had summoned a demon in order to make his cartoons live. In retrospect, this had been a terrible decision. 

“Mr Drew. What a pleasant surprise.” The demon purred. “I had a feeling I’d be speaking to you.”

“You…You did?” Joey laughed nervously. 

“I did.” The demon said. “Now, what would you ask of me, Joseph Drew?”

“I want my cartoons to live.” Joey got up from the kneeling position he’d assumed in order to summon the demon. “I want them to be remembered forever!”

“That’s quite a goal.” The demon tapped his chin. “It’ll cost you quite a bit for me to fulfill that.”

“I’ll do anything!” Joey said. 

“Hmm. Well, a soul for a soul is a fair trade.” The demon said. “I’ll take the souls of all your employees as compensation.”

“The souls of…” Joey blinked. “My employees?”

“Yes.” The demon smiled wide, flashing his sharp teeth. “A small price to pay, don’t you think?” For a moment, Joey found himself agreeing with the demon. Then he shook his head. 

“No, I can’t do that.” He said, running a hand through his hair. “They’d never forgive me.” 

The demon rolled his eyes. “Really? You’re developing a conscience now? Don’t you want to get what you want, Joey?”

“You can have  **me**. Just leave my employees alone, and my soul is yours.” Joey said, putting a hand on his chest. 

“Ugh. Fine. Whatever.” The demon conjured a contract and held it out to Joey. “Sign on the dotted line.”

“Will my characters still live on?” Joey asked as he took the contract and provided pen. 

“They’ll be remembered. That’s all I can promise for the price of one soul.” The demon said. Joey nodded, signing on the dotted line. The demon took back the contract and rolled it up. 

“I’ll give you one day to put your things in order. Then I’ll come to collect.” He vanished in a column of flame. Joey stood there for a moment, unable to believe what he’d done. He sat down at his desk, head in his hands. How had he gotten to this point, he wondered. How had he become so desperate?

“Joey?” He looked up to see Henry in the doorway. 

“Ah! Perfect timing!” Joey put on a huge smile. “I have something for you.” He pulled out a file folder and handed it over. Henry frowned and looked through the folder. 

“This is-”

“The rights to Bendy, Boris, Alice, every cartoon character we’ve ever created,” Joey said. 

“Why are you giving this to me?” Henry asked. 

“I…I’ve been doing a lot of thinking,” Joey said, folding his hands on the desk. “You’re basically the father of all these toons. I want you to make them something amazing when I’m gone.”

“When you’re gone?” Henry couldn’t help but laugh. “Joey, you’re talking like you’re going to die!”

“I’m not going to die.” Joey shook his head, laughing as well. “But I won’t be around forever. I want this place to continue long after I’m gone. I want people to remember what we’ve done.” Henry put a hand on Joey’s shoulder.

“I promise,” he said. “People will remember us.” 

“Thank you, Henry.” Joey smiled. “You should probably get back to work now.”

“Of course.” Henry got up and left, leaving Joey alone. The studio head sighed, his whole body almost seeming to deflate. He’d made so many mistakes to get to this point. He wouldn’t make any more. His employees wouldn’t suffer for his actions.

“Everyone, I have an announcement to make.” Joey had gathered almost all of the employees in the break room as he stood on one of the tables. “I wanted to say…Thank you. Thank you for everything you’ve done for me and for this studio. You, all of you, are truly what keeps this place running. I wouldn’t have been able to do all I have if it hadn’t been for all of you. I will cherish the time I spent with each and every one of you for the rest of my life.” He paused for a moment, composing himself. “And I hope you will all remember me fondly. Thank you.” Then he got down off the table and left. 

That was the last anyone saw of Joey Drew. Many moved on to bigger, more successful studios. But many stayed, whether out of some misplaced loyalty to Joey Drew or a genuine love of the studio. Henry took over and proved to be as, if not more, effective than Joey at running the studio. He kept his promise and he made Bendy and company into an enduring legacy. They were nowhere near as popular as the Disney cast, but years later people were still talking about the little dancing demon. Henry was proud of himself when he finally retired. He had done what he set out to do. Bendy, Alice, Boris, the Butcher Gang, all of them were staples of popular culture. He could die happy. And down in Hell, Joey Drew smiled. He was so proud of his friend. He’d known Henry would go far. 

.

.

She could finally see clearly now. She’d been so wrong. She almost felt moved to tears. She’d been so cruel, but Henry had still saved her in the end. 

“Are you alright?” Henry asked as he knelt before her. She nodded. Boris whimpered a little, backing up as she stood. 

“I’m so sorry, Boris.” She said, reaching out to him. Boris hesitated, but let her pat his head. In the back of her mind, Allison let out a small cheer.

“Alice-” Henry started to say. 

“No, Susie.” She corrected him. “I’m not Alice. I never was, and I never will be. It was foolish of me to think I could become her.” 

“It wasn’t foolish,” Henry assured her. “The ink corrupted you. You weren’t in your right mind.” Even knowing that she couldn’t quash her guilt. She’d done terrible things. 

“Well well, the false angel has fallen.” A familiar voice came from the doorway. All three of them turned around to see Sammy Lawrence standing there. He’d found a new mask, apparently, but looked the same as he had the last time Henry had seen him.

“Sammy!” Henry hefted his axe, ready for a fight. Susie put a hand on his shoulder and smiled. 

“Don’t worry, Henry. I’ve got him.” She said. “You two go on ahead.” Henry opened his mouth to protest, but Boris was already tugging him away. Susie watched them leave, a wistful smile on her face. 

“Sammy.” She turned back to the man she’d once thought she loved. “It’s been a long time, hasn’t it?”

“You speak as if you know me,” Sammy said. “You are nothing but a harlot, a whore of Babylon who profanes his name and destroys his effigies.”

“I’m not Alice Angel.” She said. 

“Of course you aren’t! You’re a pretender!”

“I’m Susie.” She took a step towards Sammy. “And I missed you. I missed you so much.” All the hatred she’d held towards him was gone. He hadn’t betrayed her. She’d been wrong. Sammy stopped, staring at her in what she assumed was shock. 

“Su…Susie?” He whispered. For a moment, he almost seemed like the man she’d admired. 

“Yes.” She closed the distance between them, wrapping her arms around him. “I’m sorry. I’m so so sorry.”

“You left!” He tried to push her away. “You called me a liar! You said I betrayed you!”

“I was wrong.” She held fast, drawing him closer. “And this time, I’m not going to let you go.”


	31. Henry Gets Drunk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Henry gets drunk at the company holiday party, with unexpected results.

**[inkavixentheinkdemon](https://inkavixentheinkdemon.tumblr.com/) asked: Hey, Imagine Henry acting like a mix between Sammy and Joey when he's drunk himself. Just mull it over. XD It got me laughing. (You can turn this into a story to if you want)**

I decided to write this in the [@ask-joeydrewstudios](https://tmblr.co/mEKj2fvdY3Z3PdYpAcyK9pw) universe. But this is hilarious. I loved it. 

* * *

 

Henry didn’t drink. It just didn’t happen. No one had ever seen him drunk and no one ever expected to. However, at the latest holiday party, the whole studio got to see Henry get hammered. A deadline was approaching, but everything was being put on hold so they could have a holiday party. They all needed a break, according to Joey. As such, Henry was drinking the punch pretty heavily. He was well aware that Joey and Bendy had spiked it. That was the point. He wanted to get blackout drunk so he could forget the stress of the deadline.

“How many cups of punch has Henry had?” Wally whispered to Joey as he watched the animator stumble away from the punch bowl. “Also, should we be worried?”

“Boris, how many cups of punch has Henry had?” Joey asked Boris. Boris was monitoring the punch bowl to make sure no one drank too much.

“Enough,” Boris said. “He’s not getting any more.”

“Oh dear.” It occurred to Joey that he might want to be worried. He went over to his friend and put a hand on his shoulder.

“Henry, are you alright?”

“‘M fine. Fuck off.” Henry muttered, sipping his punch. Joey’s eyes widened.

“HENRY SAID A SWEAR!” Bendy yelled at the top of his lungs, pointing at Henry. Everyone in the break room just stared open mouthed at Henry. None of them had ever heard him swear before. They didn’t even think he knew how to swear.

“Should…Should we call his wife or something?” Wally asked, looking around. “She’ll know what to do, right?”

“Hey, would it be bad if I drew a summoning circle over here?” Henry muttered, dipping his finger in some ink in the corner. “Fuck it. I’m doing it anyway.”

“Henry, let’s not do that.” Joey tried to drag the younger animator away from the corner. “I’m all for a good summoning, but you are very drunk right now.” He glanced back at the others members of the studio. “Someone, please call Dianne!”

“I’m on it!” Susie went to go phone Dianne. Sammy had to lean against the wall so he wouldn’t fall over laughing.

“This is not funny, Lawrence!” Joey yelled as he tried to get Henry under control.

“It is a little funny,” Wally admitted. “I mean, it’s weird, but it’s funny.”

“Lemme go!” Henry whined, wriggling in Joey’s grip. “I was just trying to summon a demon! Joey does it all the time!”

“Yes, but I do it sober,” Joey said. “You’ll regret this in the morning!”

Dianne showed up half an hour later, led in by Susie. Dianne sighed and walked over, all business.

“I’m really very sorry about this.” She said, taking Henry from Joey. He immediately calmed down once she touched him, smiling dopily and clinging to her.

“Is he always like this?” Joey asked.

“Pretty much,” Dianne said. “He’ll be a little late to work tomorrow, alright? I think he’ll need some time to recuperate. You really got yourself this time, didn’t you, sweetheart?”

“I love you,” Henry said, snuggling up to her.

“Yes, I know.” She kissed his head. “I love you too.”

The next morning, as Dianne had said, Henry showed up a little late. He was completely ashamed when he did, apologizing to everyone he came across. Joey assured him it was alright, but vowed to never let Henry near alcohol again.


	32. Christmas Bonding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roy bonds with Joshua at the company holiday party. Joshua belongs to @Gears112

Roy had never been fond of people who tried to date his sister. After the first few times she’d been asked out turned out to be pranks he’d started turning away anyone who dared get near Cordelia. But Joshua...Joshua he liked. Thankfully, the young tattoo artist did seem to genuinely like Cordelia. It didn’t hurt that he was genuinely a nice guy. Roy actually found himself looking forward to the holiday party at the studio. He wanted a chance to spend some time with the kid in a more relaxed setting that didn’t involve Sammy yelling at the top of his lungs. Although, Sammy still complained. 

“I can’t believe this.” The music director muttered as Roy stood by the punch bowl. 

“Can’t believe what?” Roy asked, knowing he was going to regret asking. 

“That that kid is going to be here!” Sammy said, angrily ladeling himself up some punch. “He shouldn’t be anywhere near this studio!”

“You’re just upset because Cordie’s dating him.”

“She is not!” Sammy snapped. “Why aren’t you freaking out about this?! He’s a tattoo artist!”

“I have very low standards, Sammy.” Roy sipped his punch. “As long as he’s not a serial killer and he doesn’t hurt her, I’m good.”

“Well, someone has to worry about her,” Sammy muttered, storming off to his office. Roy kept sipping his punch. He pitied whoever tried to date Sammy’s kids in the future. They were certainly in for a scare. Joshua eventually entered, wearing one of the most hideous holiday sweaters Roy had ever laid eyes on. His own was pretty bad, depicting a snowman with large pomps for the eyes and buttons, but Joshua’s was far worse. He had grown very good at masking his emotions, so he didn’t outright laugh, but he cracked a smile. Cordelia was off somewhere else, which meant Roy could get some time alone with the kid. Almost immediately, the topic of fathers came up in conversation, and that wasn’t fun for either of them. However, once that was out of the way and they’d gotten some punch that Joey wasn’t spiking, then they got to talking. 

“Is it nice, having a sibling?” Joshua asked. “Nancy always tells all these horror stories when I ask her.”

“It’s nice, but it’s also a little irritating sometimes.” Roy shrugged a little. “Generally, siblings will always have your back, but there’s no one else who can get on your nerves like a sibling. Once, when Cordelia was mad at me, she hid all my bowties. Every single one. I couldn’t find them for weeks.”

“No way!” Joshua started laughing. “I can’t picture her doing that. That sounds like when Nancy hid all Chris’ pencils.”

“She was a very mischievous child.” Roy smiled slightly. “I retaliated to that by using her shampoo. She was so mad.”

“Sounds like you two really got each other good,” Joshua said. “It...It must be nice to have someone like that. Who’ll stay by your side.”

“It is.” Roy nodded. “I don’t know what I would have done if it hadn’t been for her.”

“She’s a very strong person.” Joshua agreed. “I’m really glad I met her.”

“And she’s very glad she met you.”

“Does...Does she talk about me a lot?” Joshua asked, sounding rather timid for once. Roy almost started laughing again. 

“Yes, she does.” He said. “She cares about you a great deal.” 

“That’s great to hear.” Joshua smiled nervously. “Um, anyway, what are you doing for Christmas?”

“Hanging around the house. Opening presents.” Roy said. “You?”

“I’m spending it with Henry’s family,” Joshua replied. “I told him he didn’t have to invite me, but he kind of insisted.”

“That sounds like Henry.” 

The two lapsed into silence, watching the others mill around them. Joey had been pried away from the punch, but now he was trying to lead everyone in Latin chants. Because everything sounded ominous in Latin. 

“This place is a parent’s worst nightmare, but I’m glad I ended up here,” Roy said. 

“It definitely takes some getting used to.” Joshua laughed a little. “But yeah, it’s nice here. This place is kind of like one big family.”

“A fucked up family, but a family nonetheless.”

“Well said.”


	33. Broken Machine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Joey has trouble keeping the studio up to fire safety regulations, especially with the ink machine broken

**[inkavixentheinkdemon](https://inkavixentheinkdemon.tumblr.com/) asked: Ok so how's about this: The Ink Machine is down for repairs and needs a new part that won't be in for a week. The toons, unfortunately, keep getting hurt from gags to far to falling 2 stories down (Bendy curses a Joey for the unsafe floors) and (if you want) the studio closes for remodel (Fire hazard regulations changed), so Alice bunks with Susie, Boris with Henry, and Bendy with Joey. Do something funny with Wally. Mess around a bit w/ him, please.**

Sorry this took so long. Travelling and all that. 

* * *

The Ink Machine was broken. Honestly, Wally was surprised it hadn’t happened sooner. With the number of times the pipes had burst and the Machine had made strange sputtering noises, he honestly didn’t know how it had survived as long as it had.

“Yeah, it’s broken alright.” Murray crawled out of the machine.

“Wha- How?!” Joey sputtered. “It’s never broken down before!”

“One of the speciality parts got ground down,” Murray explained.

“Part A1 or C3?” Wally asked out of habit.

“C3,” Murray replied. Joey groaned loudly. Part C3 had taken literal months to track down. He couldn’t imagine getting another one of those would be particularly easy.

“Don’t worry,” Murray said. “I know a guy. I can get you the part in about a week.”

“A week?!” Joey nearly fainted dead away.

“Relax, it’ll be fine,” Wally assured him. “We don’t use the ink machine too much anyway.” As it turned out, they used the ink machine more than they thought. Mostly for the toons. They technically couldn’t get hurt due to toon logic, but at the same time, the real world had different rules. Their injuries required treatment with ink. Alice injured her hand after Bendy had slammed it in a door. She’d been fine, mostly, but it had hurt and she’d been mad as hell. Bendy himself got seriously injured on the floor near the entrance buckled and he fell through. Just a broken leg and arm, nothing too serious, but he was put on bed rest, much to his irritation.

“I mean, come on, Joey!” Bendy said, pulling at his creator’s ear. “This place is like a @#$%ing death trap! How does this place stay open?!”

“Luck, I suppose.” Joey laughed and rubbed his ear.

“About that.” Henry knocked on the door to Joey’s office.

“About what?” Joey asked, a sinking feeling in his stomach.

“They changed the fire hazard regulations.” Henry held up a piece of paper. “And apparently we’re not up to code anymore.”

“It’s just one thing after another.” Joey groaned and buried his face in his hands. “Fine. We’ll bunk the toons at my house.”

“Correction, you’ll bunk  _Bendy_ at your house,” Henry said. “You can’t handle all three of them in one house. I’ll take Boris and Susie can take Alice.” Immediately, Susie and Alice poked their heads in.

“Does…Does this mean we can have a sleepover?” Alice’s eyes immediately lit up.

“Sleepover!” She and Susie squealed, jumping up and down outside the door.

“Cool! I get to see your house!” Bendy grinned, slapping Joey on the back. “How much merch of me have ya got at your place? Be honest.”

“…Quite a bit.” Joey admitted after a moment.

And so the toons were shuffled off to their respective temporary housing, leaving the maintenance crew to fix up the studio so it was up to code. Most of it was up to Wally, honestly. He hated having to be in the studio alone, almost in the middle of the night. But here he was anyway. He shivered as he looked around the darkened and ink-stained studio.

“Why do I always have to do all the stuff no one else wants to do?” He muttered as he started on the fireproofing process. He kept turning around because he thought he kept hearing noises. There were three toons who hadn’t been removed from the studio. The Butcher Gang had been, accidentally, summoned by Shawn and he’d been keeping them a secret ever since. He’d told them to stay out of sight of Wally, but they weren’t going to pass up the opportunity to mess with the janitor/mechanic. Charley gave them the signal to go and Edgar started to skitter over the ceiling, sending little ink drops down to the floor. Wally immediately whirled around, causing Barley and Charley to quickly hide. They couldn’t contain their snickers though.

“Who’s there?” Wally demanded, voice shaking. “You better show yourself! I’ve got a wrench!”

“Oooh, he’s got a wrench,” Edgar said in a mocking voice.

“He be a yellow-bellied coward!” Barley laughed.

“Oh for fu-” Wally threw his wrench to the ground. “Not you guys!”

“Aren’t you glad to see us?” Charley asked, revealing himself.

“No! I’m not glad to see you!” Wally snapped. This only made the gang laugh even harder. Edgar dropped to the ground, spraying ink onto Wally as he landed in a puddle. The spider stuck his tongue out at Wally before skittering over to his friends. They continued to bother Wally until Thomas showed up to help. No one fucked with Thomas. It was just something the studio employees understood. The toons especially.

“So, Shawn summoned you, huh?” Thomas asked on lunch break.

“It was an accident,” Charley explained. “Or at least, he said it was.”

“His shock did seem real,” Edgar said. Wally was in a corner pouting. He didn’t want to deal with more living toons while trying to fireproof the studio. Fucking unbelievable. They did manage to get the studio up to code again, but Wally wasn’t happy about it. He insisted on getting paid extra for that.


	34. Chapter 34

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some more prompts from @MsFaust

[A quote and a concept](http://queenofcats17.tumblr.com/post/169003775125/a-quote-and-a-concept)

 

 

> Submitted by [@magicalmonsterhero](https://tmblr.co/mctfDpl6LStDVGfHpM3ZLTA)
> 
> -“I promised to get them out and let ‘em meet the real Sillyvision crew. That goes for you too, Alice.”
> 
> -Susie and Allison (or some other duo) have a sing-off.

Alright, let’s do this.

* * *

Henry stood before the creature identifying itself as Alice Angel, Boris and Bendy behind him. They had had to fight their way back, through hoards of searchers and Butcher Gang clones, but they were finally back in Alice’s sanctuary. This was the first time Bendy had ever been back there. He wasn’t too terribly happy about being in Alice’s domain, but if his presence was going to get her to come with them, he’d do it.

“What are you doing with  _them_?” Alice demanded. “How did you get them on your side?” She had been counting on the fact that Bendy wouldn’t trust Henry, not after what had happened with Joey. But now that they were working together, she didn’t stand a chance. They would defeat her for sure. 

“I promised to get them out and let ‘em meet the real Sillyvision crew. That goes for you too, Alice.” Henry said. 

“You…You want to help me?” Alice asked. 

“You’re one of us, Angel.” Bendy said. 

“Come with us.” Boris said, wringing his hands. “We can get out. Together.” Alice backed up, shaking her head and clawing at her hair. 

“No. Nonononononono.” She muttered. “The Ink Demon could still find me. Could still touch me! He could still drag me back!”

“We won’t let Joey hurt you.” Henry stepped forward, holding a hand out to Alice. “We’ll keep you safe, Alice, I promise.” Alice kept making little noises, stumbling back and hitting the wall. 

“We gotta get in there!” Bendy said, looking frantically at Henry. “Do something!” Henry nodded and hefted his axe, shattering the window. Bendy jumped inside, Boris close behind, and sprinted over to Alice. Quickly, he wrapped his arms around her, urging Boris to do the same. 

“We’re a family,” Bendy said. “We ain’t gonna leave ya.” Slowly, Alice’s form began to get smaller until she resembled her cartoon counterpart. She looked up, teary-eyed. 

“You…You all really care about me that much?” She sniffled. 

“Of course we do.” Boris gave her a big goofy grin. “Like Bendy said, we’re a family.” Henry couldn’t help but smile as he watched the scene unfold. He wasn’t going to let Joey ruin the legacy he’d worked for. These toons would get out safely, even if he had to kill Joey for it to happen.

.

.

It was karaoke night, and Allison and Susie were going to have a sing-off. Everyone was anticipating a cat fight, despite the two having long since put their differences aside. Still, they thought it would be fun to sing a duet. 

“What’re they singing, anyway?” Wally asked, leaning over to whisper to Sammy. 

“Something from Anne Get Your Gun.” Sammy shrugged. “Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better, I think.”

“Oooh. I like that one.” 

Soon enough, Allison and Susie took the stage, curtseying to the audience and to one another. 

“Tonight, we’ll be singing Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better, from Annie get your gun.” Allison said, picking up a microphone. 

“I’ll be singing the part of Frank, while Allison will be singing the part of Annie.” Susie said, taking another. They cued up the music and began. 

“Anything you can do I can do better. I can do anything better than you.” Allison sang. 

“No, you can’t.” Susie sang back.

“Yes, I can.”

“No, you can’t.”

“Yes, I can.”

“No, you can’t.”

“Yes, I can! Yes, I can!”

Susie pretended to be hurt, then began again. “Anything you can be I can be greater. Sooner or later I’m greater than you.” 

“No, you’re not.”

“Yes, I am.”

“No, you’re not.”

“Yes, I am.”

“No, you’re not.”

“Yes, I am, yes I am!” Susie said, sticking her tongue out. “Any note you can reach I can go higher.”

“I can sing anything higher than you.” Allison retorted, going up an octave. This led to them repeating “No, you can’t” and “Yes, I can” in increasingly higher pitched voices until Allison came out on top, singing so high everyone’s ears hurt. The song continued for a good few more minutes, each of them supposedly thinking of things that they could do better than the other. 

“Are they…flirting?” Wally whispered. “They’re totally flirting, right?” It was fairly obvious that neither woman was actually taking the song seriously. The animosity that was supposed to be there was nowhere to be found.

“Sure looks like it.” Sammy said, sipping his drink. He wasn’t really surprised. He’d been letting the two of them use his sanctuary for romantic trysts for a good long while now. 


	35. Magic Ink

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Joshua's worst fears come true when Joey decides to experiment on him. Joshua Foster belongs to @Gears112

Joshua didn’t go to the studio very often. Many people assumed it was because of Sammy and how protective the music director could be of Cordelia and Susie. And Joshua would always laugh and nod a little, as if that was the reason why. But that wasn’t the real reason. The real reason was Joey. Joshua was always a little worried Joey would kidnap him and do weird experiments on him. Joey was unstable on the best of days, and had no concept of personal boundaries. Joey didn’t seem to understand that doing weird experiments on people was wrong. He’d tried once or twice by slipping ink into people’s coffee in order to turn them into toons, but that had only resulted in half the employees getting ink poisoning. It was a small miracle Joey hadn’t been sued. In any case, that was why Joshua didn’t go to the studio too often. One day, though, his worst fears came true. 

It was a Saturday, and Henry needed some help cleaning up the studio. They’d had a birthday party for Wally the night before and no one had cleaned up after the party. Henry had taken it upon himself to do that, although he knew he couldn’t do it alone. So he’d called Joshua. Joshua didn’t like the idea of being alone in the studio with Joey, because Joey never left the studio, but he liked Henry being alone with Joey even less. Joshua steeled himself and went. However, he made sure to tell Nancy where he was going, in case something happened to him.

“You’ll be fine, Joshy,” Nancy assured him as he prepared to leave. “He’s not going to do anything to you.”

“He summoned three cartoon characters through black magic. We don’t know what he’s capable of.” Joshua said. 

“You’re starting to scare me,” Nancy said, rolling her shoulders. “You don’t actually think he’ll do something, do you?”

“Like I said, we don’t know what he’s capable of.” Joshua set his lips in a thin line. 

“If you’re really that scared, don’t go!” Nancy tried to grab his arm, but Joshua managed to duck out of her grip.

“I have to help Henry.” Joshua said. He left soon after. Nancy gnawed at her lip. She had to do something to make sure Joshua would be alright. She picked up the phone, punching in the numbers. 

“Sammy? Hey, do you think you could swing by the studio later? Yeah, I know it’s your day off. I just need you to make sure Joshy’s okay....”

.

When Joshua arrived at the studio, it was mostly empty. He groaned to himself and walked in, hands shoved in his pockets. 

“Henry?” He called. “Henry, are you here?” Immediately a head popped out from a hallway. Unfortunately, the head belonged to Joey and not Henry. 

“Ah! Mr Foster!” Joey grinned, turning the corner and striding out to meet Joshua. “Just the person I wanted to see!” Joshua already didn’t like the sound of that. 

“You wanted to see me? What for?” Joshua laughed nervously. 

“There’s something I need your help with.” Joey put his hand on Joshua’s shoulder. He had a strange, almost unhinged look in his eyes. 

“Mr Drew, I really need to get to Henry. He’s expecting me.” Joshua tried to pull away, but Joey’s grip on the younger man’s shoulder tightened to an almost uncomfortable degree. 

“You don’t seem to understand me,” Joey said, his smile widening. “I need your help. Now.” Joshua was dragged through the hallways by Joey, struggling the whole way. No matter what he did, though, Joey kept a tight grip on him.

“Mr Drew, what are you doing?!” Joshua demanded. 

“You’ll see.” Joey said, speeding up a bit. He dragged Joshua to the Ink Machine room, which was empty. Evidently the toons were downstairs helping Henry clean up. The second Joey let go, Joshua started running. He’d known Joey would do something weird when he was alone! He didn’t get far before his legs buckled under him. He looked down to see his legs wrapped in glowing symbols. Joey walked up behind him, clicking his tongue. 

“Joshua Joshua Joshua.” Joey shook his head. “Why are you running from this? With all the ink in your body, I could make you something akin to a god.”

“I don’t want to be a god!” Joshua yelled, trying to drag himself away. Joey kept shaking his head, then whacked Joshua over the head with his black magic book. 

When Joshua woke up, he was strapped to a table. Immediately, Joshua began to struggle against his bonds. Joey’s face soon appeared in his periphery.  

“Ah, you’re awake!” He said brightly. “How do you feel?”

“YOU ARE FUCKING INSANE!” Joshua yelled, struggling even harder. “GET ME THE FUCK OFF THIS TABLE!”

“Well, at least you’re still coherent.” Joey turned away. “I was a little worried, honestly. I haven’t been able to practice this on anyone else. But you turned out better than expected.” Joshua looked frantically around, trying to figure out what exactly Joey had done to him. He managed to get a look at his arms, only to see his tattoos moving on their own. His skin was still flesh colored, thankfully, but his tattoos were moving. 

“You’ve noticed the changes already, I see.” Joey returned to Joshua’s side. “Care to have a look at your face?” He held up a mirror to Joshua’s face, and what the young tattoo artist saw made him scream. 

.

Cordelia arrived at the studio rather irritated. She too had been called by Henry to help clean up. She was a little miffed no one had tried to clean up the night before, honestly. She hadn’t been present at the party, due to being sick the day before, but she’d wanted to come. As she stepped inside, she heard a scream. Specifically, Joshua’s scream. A moment later, Henry came running up the stairs, the toons right behind him. 

“Did you hear that?” Henry asked, although he knew full well she had. Cordelia nodded, already heading towards the ink machine room. Her heart was pounding in her chest. She desperately hoped Joey hadn’t done something terrible. Her hopes were dashed when the group entered the ink machine room to find Joshua strapped to a table, screaming and undeniably changed.

“Joey, what did you do?” Henry asked. Joey looked up from holding the mirror over Joshua’s face and smiled. 

“You’re all just in time! Come closer, I want to show-” He didn’t finish that sentence because Cordelia stormed up and slugged him. She was a tiny girl, but she hit hard enough to send Joey stumbling back. Henry immediately ran to hold her back from continuing to attack the studio head. 

“Joey, what have you done?” Alice gasped as Boris undid the straps binding Joshua. Joshua looked like a toon. That much was clear. Joshua didn’t look so much like a 30’s cartoon character, though. Instead, he resembled Tintin with his dot eyes and stocky build. 

“Joey, what did you do?” Henry demanded, still holding back Cordelia. The Bell girl was literally shaking with anger, kicking and screaming as she tried to get at Joey.

“It’s nothing serious,” Joey said, holding his bruised cheek. “Good god that girl hits hard. Do you take classes, Miss Bell?”

“I’M GOING TO RIP YOUR LUNGS OUT THROUGH YOUR ASS!”

“Mm. I’ll ask again later.”

“Joey, you haven’t answered a single question we’ve asked you,” Henry said. “What. Did. You. Do?”

“He fucking kidnapped me!” Joshua sprung up from the table to hide behind Henry. 

“I just wanted to test something on him,” Joey said. “And look how well it turned out! I got his tattoos to move! I made him immortal!”

“Turn him back,” Henry said. 

“Pardon?”

“Turn him back,” Henry repeated. “He doesn’t want this. Not to mention, I think Cordelia really will kill you if this is permanent.” Joey stared at them, almost as if he couldn’t believe they were turning down his gift. 

“Foster!” Sammy’s voice came from the entryway. “Nancy wanted me to check on you! You okay?”

“Sammy, you really shouldn’t come in here!” Henry yelled back. Almost immediately, Sammy was in the ink machine room. As soon as he saw Joshua and the screaming Cordelia, his expression darkened. 

“Joey.” He growled, rolling up his sleeves. 

“I’ll fix it!” Joey put his hands up. “I’ll fix it, I will!” Sammy narrowed his eyes and put his hands down. They had to take Cordelia out of the room so she wouldn’t physically attack Joey again while he tried to fix things. Things were definitely going to be different after this. 


	36. Faustian Prompts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More prompts from MsFaust

> Submitted by [@magicalmonsterhero](https://tmblr.co/mctfDpl6LStDVGfHpM3ZLTA)
> 
> -Susie was quiet for a moment. Finally, she reached out and closed the car door.  
> “Drive.”  
> -“Check it out! They put Will’s song in the game!”
> 
> -Someone has a musical number daydream. (Bonus points if they’re singing Build Our Machine, Can’t Be Erased, or a song from Hamilton.)

This’ll probably be my last story of 2017! How exciting!

[This](http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D7WpZXb6j_2E&t=OWRkNzAwYjY5YzA4YjdkZDU1ZWM3NWI5OTRlZDcwMWMzM2M0MjY4MCxBQXFMVGZtVQ%3D%3D&b=t%3Abf1mUcY3jG5LyWt2YecXMQ&p=http%3A%2F%2Fqueenofcats17.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F169162001675%2Fsubmitted-by-magicalmonsterhero-susie-was-quiet&m=1) was the inspiration for the Can’t Be Erased Number. 

* * *

Susie had had a bad day. She’d been replaced. Apparently, she hadn’t been a satisfactory Alice. Changes had to be made, Joey had said. Susie had left the studio in tears. At present, she was sitting on the curb outside the studio, still crying. Alice had been her life! How dare Joey take that away from her?! And  _Sammy_. He’d been with that Allison! He’d betrayed her! Suddenly she heard a car drive up. Looking up, she saw Sammy’s car in front of her. 

“It’s going to rain soon.” He said. “You should head home.” 

“I took the bus.” She hunkered down on the curb. “My car’s in the shop.”

“Do you want a ride home?” 

“Not from you!” She said, almost on the brink of tears once more. Sammy’s shoulders slumped and he looked at her with a tired expression. 

“Is this about Allison?” He asked. She didn’t answer. He sighed. 

“It’s not her fault, Susie.” He said. “She’s just a kid. She didn’t ask to get the job. I couldn’t just yell at her.”

“You love her more than you love me.” Susie whimpered. 

“Susie…” Sammy opened the car door and beckoned her in. “Look, I love  _you_. Alli’s just a coworker. She’s got a little crush on me, but I don’t return the feelings and she knows it. And, you might not have the role of Alice anymore, but you have me. I’m not going to abandon you, Susie. Not now, not ever.” Susie was quiet for a moment. Finally, she reached out and closed the car door.  
“Drive.”   
.

.

After the success of Joey’s movie effort, a game developed called theMeatly offered to create a game based on their studio. Joey, of course, accepted the offer without a second thought. It was all so exciting. They decided the game would be divided into five chapters, each one focusing on a different part of the studio. Around the time of the release of the second chapter of the game, Sammy discovered a singer/songwriter on YouTube named Will Ryan who went by DA Games. DA Games had produced a few songs for the game, but Sammy’s favourite was Gospel Of Dismay. He’d even talked to theMeatly about getting it incorporated into the game as an easter egg. 

“You’re really excited about this, huh?” Bendy said as they all crowded around the computer. TheMeatly had released a new update to the game which he promised would include the easter egg Sammy had requested. 

“It’s always good to see Sammy excited about something!” Joey said. 

“Everyone, shut up!” Sammy said as he entered his virtual office. He moved towards the radio and clicked on it. The tinny sounds of an instrumental version of Gospel Of Dismay began to play.

“Check it out! They put Will’s song in the game!” Bendy began to jump up and down. Sammy grinned, leaning back in his chair. 

“I’d hoped they would.” He said. He moved to turn off the game, but Bendy stopped him. 

“We gotta see you appear!” The little demon said. Sammy rolled his eyes but kept playing.

.

.

Bendy had been listening to a lot of songs based on the game that was based on their movie. His favourite happened to be Can’t Be Erased, by JT Machinima. He liked dreaming about it being a big musical number. 

“I’m the dancing demon, watch me twirl and hop and spin,” he hummed to himself. “I’m quick to give a smile but I won’t forget your sins.” Then he started to laugh maniacally, the landscape in his mind beginning to change. He stood before Henry, large and monstrous. 

“The wonders of imagination.” He boomed. “ Welcome home dear friend. How long we’ve all been waitin’.” He leered down at the terrified Henry. “Let’s create a masterpiece, breathe life into your dreams! All you gotta do is start up the machine!” A pounding beat started as he began to chase the animator through the halls. 

“I’m the product of an artist whose creations bring delight. Upon this sombre threshold, imagination comes to life. Just free yourself from reason, soon you’ll see in black and white. Call me a seed of evil, but what’s that mean if I’m conceived within your mind?” He sang. He never went too fast, always following just a few steps behind the poor animator. “Leaking from the ceiling, ink is bleeding through the lines. Is that your heart that’s beating or illusion you’re alive?” 

Almost immediately, the scene switched to Henry collecting the pieces to power the Ink Machine.

“Collect what’s necessary, keep appeasing the divines. It’s me you should be believing, cuz he’s deceiving you with lies.” An image of Joey appeared before their faces, smiling maniacally.

“Bendy? Bendy, what are you singing?” 

Bendy opened his eyes. Joey was indeed standing before him, but he wasn’t in the musical world he’d been thinking of. 

“Uh, nothing.” He said quickly. Joey didn’t really care for rap. 

“Very well.” Joey turned away. “Let’s get back to work, shall we?” Bendy nodded, mentally reminding himself to avoid singing when Joey was around.


	37. Magic Ink 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Joey goes off the deep end when forced to face the consequences of his actions. Joshua belongs to @Gears112. First story of the new year!

As it turned out, turning Joshua back was easier said than done. It wasn’t helped by the fact that Joey didn’t want to turn him back. In Joey’s mind, he’d done something wonderful. He’d given the boy the gift of everlasting life, something Joey himself wanted badly. The boy would never grow old, would never get sick. Why couldn’t everyone understand what a wonderful thing this was? When news of Joey’s failure reached the studio, Cordelia was the first to quit. She came in while Joey was in the middle of going through some arcane texts and slammed her hands on the desk. 

“I’m quitting.” She said, giving him the darkest look he’d ever seen her give  _ anyone _ . “Fuck you, fuck your rituals, and fuck everything you stand for. If you aren’t going to fix things, I’ll do it myself.” Then she turned to leave. 

“Ms Bell, I-” Joey got up from his desk, prepared to follow.

“Mr Drew, if you know what’s good for you, you won’t follow me.” Cordelia spat before turning on her heel and storming out. 

“She’s just an intern. She can be replaced.” Joey muttered to himself before sitting back down at his desk. He’d always known Sammy’s little pet was expendable. Although, he did like her and was genuinely sad to see her go. But, sacrifices had to be made. He went back to what he’d been working on. Next was Sammy. He knocked on the door politely enough, but his expression was similarly dark. 

“Ah, Sammy.” Joey forced himself to smile. “I suppose from your expression that whatever news you bring isn’t good.”

“I came to give you my two weeks notice,” Sammy said, putting a piece of paper on Joey’s desk. 

“You too?” Joey laughed weakly. “Ms Bell was just in here telling me she quit.”

“Yeah.” Sammy shrugged slightly. “I should probably get going, I said I’d give her a ride home.” Joey gritted his teeth, hands forming into fists on the desk.

“Don’t bother coming in tomorrow.” He said. “Just clean out your office and go.” Sammy’s eyes widened slightly, but he nodded and left to do just that. Joey buried his head in his hands. He’d have to find another music director now. Cordelia was easily replaceable. Sammy, not so much. Sammy was an extremely talented musician and composer, hence why Joey had hired him in the first place. Finding someone to replace him wouldn’t be easy. His thoughts were interrupted by another knock at his door. When he looked up, he found Henry standing there. 

“Henry.” Joey smiled desperately up at his friend. “I hope you’re not here to quit too.”

“I think you know the answer to that question,” Henry said solemnly. Joey’s smile quickly faded. 

“Please.” He got to his feet, hobbling over Henry and grasping Henry’s hand in his own. “I can’t lose you too, Henry. I need you to believe in me, in what I’m doing.”

“I did believe in you, Joey, and look what happened!” Henry said, snatching his hand away. “You used my son as a human guinea pig!” Wheels began to turn in Joey’s mind. He had to use people who wouldn’t be missed, who wouldn’t have an emotional connection to his studio workers. Henry immediately noticed the look in his friend’s eyes and shut him down. 

“Even if he wasn’t my son, I’d still be angry with you!” Henry continued. “You can’t just use people like this! People aren’t objects to be experimented on, Joey!”

“But I gave him a gift!” Joey insisted. “He’ll never age, never get sick-”

“Is that what this is about?” Henry asked. “You wanting to fix yourself?”

“It’s about the greater good!” Joey was beginning to get desperate. “Why can’t any of you understand what I’m trying to do? If I can replicate what I did to Mr Foster, then no one will ever have to fear death or illness ever again!”

“Joey, the point is that you did this against his will!” 

They were both shouting now, their faces red and their hands waving. The argument lasted a few more minutes before Henry finally stormed out. After that, one by one, nearly all of Joey’s employees quit. No one wanted to be in a studio with someone who would casually experiment on them for his own pleasure. Joey was left alone in the studio, save for the toons. Bendy tried to cheer Joey up, while Alice hid in her sanctuary. Boris stayed down in the music department himself. Grief overcame Joey at this. This couldn’t be happening. He couldn’t lose everything he’d worked so hard for. This was his life! He couldn’t lose it!

“I’m sure they didn’t mean it,” Bendy said, sitting on Joey’s desk. “They’ll be back! I know they will!” 

“No, they won’t,” Joey said, head in his hands. “They’re gone. For good.” Bendy lapsed into silence. For the next few days, Bendy mostly stayed away from him. As Joey’s mind began to fracture in the days following the incident, he began to formulate a plan. He could have all his friends back. He could make this work. 

.

.

Cordelia ran into the studio, her heart racing. A letter was clutched in her hand. For the first time in the last week, she felt hopeful. Joey had promised he could fix Joshua. He’d promised he had a solution. She wasn’t sure how he’d convinced Henry to bring Joshua to the studio, but she didn’t care. 

“Hey! Slow down!” Sammy ran after her. “We don’t know if this is a trap or not!” She’d asked him to drive her over since Roy was at work and she knew her brother would object. Sammy had been extremely unwilling to believe Joey’s words, but he hadn’t had the heart to dash Cordelia’s hopes. Not to mention, he hadn’t wanted her to come alone. This could be dangerous. Almost immediately, she disappeared around a corner towards the ink machine room. 

“Cordelia! Hey!” Sammy turned the corner and froze. Cordelia lay on the ground now. Joey stood above her, holding an axe in his hand. 

“Ah, Sammy.” Joey smiled brightly. “So good of you to come as well.” 

“You leave her alone,” Sammy growled. 

“I’m not going to hurt her, nor you,” Joey said, still smiling. “I’m going to give you a gift, Sammy. We’ll be a family.” 

“I’m sorry Sammy.” He heard Bendy’s voice behind him, then felt a sharp pain in the back of his head before he fell to the ground as well. Bendy hoisted the music director up over his shoulder, taking him into the ink machine room and depositing him beside Cordelia on the operating tables. 

“You’re sure this is a good idea, right?” Bendy looked at Joey. 

“Of course,” Joey said. “I’m helping them.” So Bendy let him do what he wanted to do. He left the room, shifting back to his cuter form to wait for Henry and Joshua to show up. He covered his ears as Cordelia and Sammy screamed, pleading for Joey to stop. It was all for the greater good. That was what Joey had said. They were doing good. 

It was a whole hour before Henry and Joshua showed up. Both of them looked tired, even with Joshua in his toon form. 

“Joey?” Henry called out. “You said you could fix this!” Joey appeared from the hallway, covered in ink and smiling wide. 

“Ah! You’re both here!” He said, spreading his arms wide. “It’s so good to see you! I have something I need to show you!”

“Joey, you said you could fix this.” Henry grabbed Joey’s arm before Joey could dart away again. “So, how do you intend to fix this?”

“You’ll see,” Joey said. “Come, come. You’re going to want to see this.”

“The last time he said he wanted to show me something, this happened,” Joshua whispered to Henry. “I wouldn’t trust him if I were you.”

“I already don’t.” Henry’s shoulders slumped at this. 

“Joshy? Is Joshy here?” Cordelia’s voice drifted out from the ink machine room. 

“Why is Cordelia here?” Joshua asked, looking about ready to deck Joey. Joey’s smile only widened and he slipped out of Henry’s grasp, running towards the ink machine room. Henry and Joshua gave chase, running after him. They nearly screamed when they saw what had unfolded. Both Sammy and Cordelia were strapped to operating tables, their bodies shifting and changing with every breath. They were in some strange state between human and toon, and it looked like it hurt. 

“Help.” Sammy managed to choke out. He was more or less coherent. Cordelia seemed pretty out of it, her eyes unfocused and hazy. Joshua and Henry backed up, almost unable to believe what they were seeing. 

“We’re going to be a family,” Joey said, smiling maniacally. 


	38. Werewolf Wally and Little Ruby

**Anonymous asked: Hey, Gears from AO3 here, and I totally need me some Werewolf Wally with small child Ruby please. Thank ya~**

Oh, Hell yes. >:3c

Ruby and her father, Chris, belong to [Gears112](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gears112/pseuds/Gears112), as does Joshua and the majority of the Lawrence family and Wally’s family. 

 

* * *

 

“Wait, you’re a what?”

“I’m a werewolf. I never mentioned that?” 

Wally had shown up at Henry’s house, as he often did, only to find that Henry wasn’t home. Joshua, Henry’s adopted son, and his friend Chris were, however, along with Chris’ daughter Ruby. Wally had immediately made himself at home, as he was wont to do, sprawling out on the couch and beginning to entertain Ruby. Ruby was delighted to see Wally. He had a bit of a knack for dealing with children. The three men had gotten to talking about the old days of the studio and Wally had mentioned something about his first few months at the studio being difficult because he had just recently been turned at that point. Joshua and Chris had both been a little confused about that until Wally had elaborated. 

“So you’re a werewolf,” Joshua repeated. 

“Yeah, but don’t worry,” Wally said. “I’ve got the North American strain, so I’m actually kinda scared of humans when I turn.”

“You’re a werewolf?” Ruby’s eyes widened. “That’s so cool! Miss Nancy has lots of movies about werewolves! Are you like them?”

“Given that most of the movies Nancy shows you are horror movies, I doubt it,” Chris said. It was hard to imagine Wally of all people tearing people’s throats out. He was more like a big puppy.

“Yeah, I’m not really all that dangerous.” Wally laughed and scratched the back of his head. 

“Aw.” Ruby seemed disappointed by this.

“Have you ever transformed in front of anyone before?” Joshua asked, leaning forward a bit. 

“I mean, I’ve transformed in fronta my family before.” Wally started bouncing Ruby up and down on his knees. “Wilma hit me with a broom the first time it happened. It was kind of funny, in retrospect.” Ruby giggled, covering her mouth with her hands. 

“You laugh, but you’ve never been on the receivin’ end of one of Wilma’s broom attacks.” Wally adopted a faux serious tone. “She’s a scary lady.” He may have been joking, but he did know better than to mess with his sister. 

“That’s what Uncle Joshy and Daddy always say about Nancy.” Ruby giggled. Joshua and Chris both reflexively shuddered at the memory of some of the times Nancy had really lost her temper. She was her father’s daughter to be sure. 

“Yeah, well, you should never underestimate ladies.” Wally grinned and tapped Ruby’s nose. “Which includes you, little lady.” Ruby smiled back, nodding fervently. 

“I’m really tough!” She announced, puffing up her chest. 

“You certainly are.” Chris smiled fondly at her. 

They continued to talk for another hour before Henry arrived and Wally was called away to help with something at Wilma’s house.

A month later, Chris arrived at the Peterson/Franks house in a panic. There was some emergency he needed to get to and he didn’t have anyone to watch Ruby. Wilma was a little surprised by this, and a little worried since Wally had just transformed in the backyard, but she couldn’t just turn Chris away. So she told him it was fine and took Ruby. The little girl was rather tired since it was late at night, so she was dozing lightly in Wilma’s arms. 

“Who was that, Mom?” Danny stuck his head around the corner. 

“Chris,” Wilma replied, closing and locking the front door. “It looks like we’re babysitting Ruby for the night.”

“But Uncle Wally just,” Danny glanced back to the backyard. “You know.”

“I’m sure it will be fine,” Wilma assured him with a wave of her hand. “Besides, if he misbehaves I’ll just hit him with the broom again.”

“‘S Uncle Wally here?” Ruby looked around blearily. “I wanna see him.”

“Are you sure?” Wilma asked. “It’s very late.” Despite being very sleepy, Ruby nodded determinedly.

“Well, alright. If you say so.” Wilma headed for the backyard, Danny following behind. In the backyard, Danny’s brother David was playing fetch with his uncle. It was kind of funny watching the young man doing this with a wolf. Although, Wally honestly resembled more of a large dog. He was neither a big nor intimidating man. Ruby’s eyes lit up when she saw Wally in his wolf form. 

“Doggie!” She squealed, scrambling out of Wilma’s arms. 

“Careful!” Wilma said, staying close. Wally returned with the rope toy David had been throwing, dropping it at his nephew’s feet before looking over at Ruby. His tail started wagging when he saw her and he trotted over, starting to lick her face. 

“That tickles!” Ruby giggled as Wally licked all over her face. Wilma let out a quiet sigh of relief. She’d been pretty sure her brother wouldn’t try to attack Ruby, but she knew rather little about werewolves. She was glad she’d been right. 

Ruby was allowed to play with Wally for another hour until both she and the werewolf were tuckered out. The Franks/Peterson family had found that the best policy when Wally transformed was to get out all his energy so that he was tired out. They played fetch with him, they took him on walks. It was like having a large dog. And Ruby liked large dogs. Wally had even let her ride him like a tiny horse. Once they were all done, Wilma took them all inside where she gave Wally a bath before letting him curl protectively around Ruby. She did make him put on some clothes, though, because she absolutely did not want Ruby waking up to a naked man curled around her. That was a whole can of worms she wasn’t going to open. 

Chris arrived the next morning, apologizing profusely for just dumping Ruby on them like that. 

“It’s fine,” Wilma assured him. “It’s always a treat to have little Ruby around. And Wally enjoyed playing with her.” She decided maybe she’d mention the werewolf thing a little later. 


	39. Chapter 39

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is from awhile ago.

**[magicalmonsterhero](https://magicalmonsterhero.tumblr.com/) asked: Ooh, I got an idea: what if Henry was on the Toons' side all along?**

Sorry this took so long. Computer broke and all that. 

* * *

Joey had had expectations about how his reunion with Henry was supposed to go. Of course, after becoming the creature he currently was, he’d had to adjust those expectations, but still. There was a way this was supposed to go. A way things were supposed to be. However, as with many things in life, things didn’t go exactly as planned. Henry had, arrived, yes, that was true, but he hadn’t reacted…well to Joey’s new form. Looking back, Joey supposed he probably should have warned Henry or something. But no matter. He’d find Henry and explain everything. He was sure Henry would be thrilled by what Joey had managed to do. He’d defied the impossible! He’d brought cartoons to life! He’d  _become_  a cartoon!  ****Granted, it hadn’t gone exactly as expected, but the results were undeniable. As Joey moved through the walls, he heard the sound of voices. There was Sammy’s, expected, Henry’s, also expected, and…one he didn’t quite recognize.

“He’s here to help.” The new voice said. “So untie, him Sammy!” 

 

“My apologies, my lord.” Sammy said, and there was the sound of ropes being untied. My lord…That meant the strange voice was Bendy? But that couldn’t be! Joey was Bendy!

“Thanks.” Henry’s low voice rumbled through the floorboards. “Hey, I saw Boris earlier, I’m really sorry.”

“You had nothing to do with it.” Bendy said. “So don’t worry. I’d really rather not talk about it.”

“Right, of course.”

Joey snaked his way up to a puddle in the room, opening one eye. There was Sammy, looking the same as he had for years now, and a tiny 3d Bendy. And….Henry. Joey’s heart swelled at seeing his friend. Henry looked so much older now, although he supposed 30 years would do that to a person.  It took everything he had not to pop out of that puddle and throw his arms around Henry. No, that would have to wait. The time wasn’t right. Not to mention, he had to figure out what Henry was doing with Sammy and this strange Bendy.

 

“Anyway, thanks for coming.” Bendy slapped Henry’s back.

“No problem.” Henry said. “I had to, especially after hearing what happened.”

“He knows of our plight?” Sammy asked.

“I snuck a letter in with the one Joey sent.” Bendy explained. “I told him everything. He’s going to help us.”  ****The puddle around Joey bubbled. That little- How dare he meddle with Joey’s plans?! Didn’t he know how important Joey’s work was?

 

“You….” Sammy murmured, looking Henry up and down. “I know you…don’t I?”

“Yes.” Henry nodded, putting a hand on Sammy’s shoulder. He didn’t even recoil at the feeling of Sammy’s clammy, inky form. “We used to work together.” Sammy fell silent as he tried to piece the shattered portions of his memory together. While he did this, Henry and Bendy began to discuss the situation.

“Alice is around here somewhere, and I’m pretty sure she’ll be on board to help.” Bendy said. “As for Boris…”

“Yeah, I know.” Henry nodded. “We’ll have to do this without him.” Joey almost couldn’t believe what he was hearing. His oldest and dearest friend was being turned against him by some…some little imposter! Bendy was  _his_  creation! How dare that little devil try to turn Henry against him!  The puddle around Joey continued to boil until there was nothing left, and Joey was alone in the walls again. He was going to destroy this creature. Him and Henry.


	40. Chapter 40

**[magicalmonsterhero](https://magicalmonsterhero.tumblr.com/) asked: Quote prompt: "If our friendship was a marriage, this would be a divorce. And I'm taking full custody of the children."**

This could be cute and funny, but I’m gonna make it dark and angsty

* * *

Henry considered himself to be a fair and patient man. He was willing to listen, to work through his problems, didn’t get unnecessarily angry at anyone. He thought of himself as a good person. But there was something about Joey Drew that brought out the worst in him. He’d been working with Joey for years now, and he was beginning to lose his patience. He was the co-founder, the creator of Bendy the Dancing Demon, Boris the Wolf, and Alice Angel. He’d been working his ass off for years, but never once had he gotten any recognition. Joey took all the credit for himself, taking everything and giving nothing. After so many years, Henry had had enough. He went to Joey’s office, fully intending to work things out with his friend and business partner.

“Joey, we need to talk.” He said, opening the door. Joey looked up from his work and smiled.

“Henry! What can I do for you?” He asked. “Take a seat, please.” He gestured toward the chair in front of his desk.

“I’d rather stand,” Henry said.

“Alright. So, what do you want to talk to me about?”

“It’s about the studio,” Henry said. “I’m the co-founder, aren’t I? So I should receive equal credit for the work we’ve done.” Joey watched him, narrowing his eyes slightly.

“Are you unhappy?” He asked. “You feel as though I’ve cheated you somehow?”

“Yes, actually,” Henry said, running a hand through his hair. “We’re partners. We’re supposed to work together in this. But all you do is take, you never give anything. If I’m going to stay here, Joey, then things need to change.”

“Then I suppose you’re not going to be staying here.” Joey opened and drawer in his desk and removed a pink slip from it.

“Excuse me?”

“If our friendship was a marriage, this would be a divorce,” Joey said, the smile never leaving his face. “And I’m taking full custody of the children.”

“You’re…are you firing me?” Henry asked.

“If you’re not willing to work with me, then it’s better you don’t work here at all.” Joey folded his hands on his desk, still completely calm. “Although I must say, I will miss having you here.”

“Joey, I  _created_  Bendy and the others! You can’t just fire me!”

“I can and I will.” Joey smiled a little wider. “I own the rights to all those characters. We’ll manage without you.” Henry could hardly believe what he was hearing. Joey was firing him! After everything he’d done!

“I trust you can show yourself out.” Joey held the slip out to Henry. Henry took it, his whole body numb. He turned and left the office, going to his desk to pack up his things. The employees he passed began to whisper at the pink slip in Henry’s hands. None of them had ever expected that Henry of all people would be let go. What were they going to do without him? He was the driving creative force behind the studio. He’d promised he’d be there to make sure Joey didn’t get out of control. But as the door slammed shut behind him, they knew he’d been wrong.


	41. Wally Makes Bad Decisions

So I saw [this](https://ask-joeydrewstudios.tumblr.com/post/165479124034/ok-what-if-susie-or-wally-scared-sammy-and-he) post by [@ask-joeydrewstudios](https://tmblr.co/mEKj2fvdY3Z3PdYpAcyK9pw) and I wanted to write something. 

* * *

It was a slow day, and Wally was getting a little bored. He was half tempted to seek out Bendy for some collective mischief, but he knew the little demon was busy filming right now. Which meant he would have to execute his mischief by himself. He immediately made a beeline for Sammy’s office. It was always easiest to get reactions out of Sammy, even if it meant being chased through the halls afterward while Sammy threw things at him. Susie saw him walking towards Sammy’s office and gave the young janitor a disapproving look.

“He’s going to kill you. You know that, right?” She said.

“He hasn’t killed me yet.” Wally said brightly.

Susie rolled her eyes. “I’m not hiding you when he comes after you.”

“Whatever.” Wally just brushed past her. Susie didn’t make any move to stop him. He needed to figure out on his own that pranking Sammy was a bad idea. Wally got to Sammy’s door and snickered to himself. Sammy had the radio on, meaning he was pretty much dead to the world. The music director didn’t react when Wally cracked the door, sneaking in to stand behind Sammy.

“BOO!” Wally yelled, clapping his hands loudly.

Sammy let out a shriek that sounded rather like something one would hear out of a ten-year-old girl. Wally stopped in his tracks. Well, he hadn’t expected that. Sammy turned around slowly, his face bright red.

“You will not breathe a word of this to anyone.” He hissed. A huge grin slowly spread across Wally’s face. He began to laugh.

“Franks-” Before Sammy could catch him, Wally was streaking out of the office hollering,

“SAMMY SCREAMS LIKE A LITTLE GIRL!”

No one had any sympathy when Sammy stuffed Wally into a trash can a few minutes later. This was what happened when you messed with Sammy.


	42. Chapter 42

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A headcanon I agree with, wholeheartedly.

**[nightfurywitch-deactivated20180](https://nightfurywitch-deactivated20180.tumblr.com/) asked: I don't know if you're doing fic requests right now, but if you are, I recently found out about the "Sammy has ADHD/is autistic" hc, and if you could write something for that, I'd love it!**

I’m not sure how well I can do this, but I’ve done my best. Please tell me if I’ve gotten something wrong. 

* * *

 

Working for Joey Drew wasn’t exactly easy for Sammy. The man tended to steamroll over everything and everyone, regardless of how nicely they asked for something. When Sammy had first started working for Joey, he’d informed Joey, as nicely as he possibly could, that he needed things to be a certain way in order for him to be able to work. That in itself hadn’t been easy, but Sammy had found his working environment to be much more bearable as long as he made an effort to communicate what he needed. He needed a routine, he needed a lack of distractions. He’d thought Joey would be able to understand that. For a while, he had. Sammy had been allowed to have his routine and he hadn’t been disturbed by anyone while he worked. Sammy had been almost relieved. He hadn’t even had to admit to Joey that he was autistic. He was always afraid to tell people that. It changed the way people saw him and he didn’t like that. Joey respected him, and Sammy wanted it to stay that way.

But then came the ink machine. It was loud, distracting, the pipes broke, and ink was always leaking. That in itself was almost unbearable. It took everything he had not to storm out, not to put his hands over his ears and cry. It was so loud he could barely concentrate. He did feel a little bad for his coworkers, given how often he lashed out at them. He just wanted it to stop. He wanted to be able to weak in peace. He’d thought the ink machine was bad, but that was nothing compared to the pump switch Joey installed in Sammy’s office. People were in and out of his office all day, breaking his routine, bringing in their distractions and taking away his sanctuary. He needed a new place to hide. He needed somewhere to get away from it all. And he found that in his sanctuary. He knew his coworkers resented how he’d drive them from the band room just so he could get some time alone, but he needed it. He needed it to all stop for a little while.

Becoming an ink monster wasn’t any easier. It was finally quiet in the studio, but the voices of the Ink never gave him any respite. The voices were always loud, always whispering. He just wanted it to be quiet. Why wouldn’t it stop? He clung to the one thing he could remember. Bendy. Bendy would set him free. Bendy would make it quiet. 


	43. Chapter 43

**[phoena12](https://phoena12.tumblr.com/) asked: Hello! If your still doing prompts may I request; "are you cold"? With boris and bendy!**

:) I’m going to rip your heart out friend. 

* * *

“Are you cold?”

“I’m fine, Bendy. Honest.” Boris assured his friend as they limped along. Well, as Boris limped along. The wolf’s chest cavity gaped open, ink spilling out and staining his ribs a deep black. Bendy was doing his best to support his friend, but there was only so much he could do.

“I was just asking ‘cause  _I’m_  cold,” Bendy said. “I figured you might be too.”

“I’m fine, really,” Boris said, although he immediately stumbled, hacking up large gobs of ink.

“You are not fine.” Bendy forced the wolf to sit down against a wall. “For starters, your chest’s open and all that.”

“It’ll take a lot more than this to kill me.” Boris smiled, a big warm expression. Bendy felt his heart sink. He knew his friend was going to die. He’d seen him die over and over and over again. Every time he ran into a Boris in this godforsaken studio, they ended up dying somehow. It was like some stupid rule of the universe.

“Let’s just rest here for a little while.” Bendy sat down beside Boris. “You seem a little winded.”

“‘M just tired is all.” Boris yawned for comedic effect.

“Yeah yeah.” Bendy snuggled up to Boris, listening to the rhythmic sound of the wolf’s breathing. For a long time, it was very quiet. The only sound was Boris and Bendy breathing. Slowly, though, Boris’ breathing slowed. Soon, it had stopped completely. Bendy stayed where he was, burying his face in Boris’ fur. This one had died a lot quicker than the others. Maybe next time he’d get more time with his best friend. At least this one hadn’t been taken down by Alice. The little demon sighed to himself, getting up and trying not to cry. There was always next time.


	44. Chapter 44

**[phoena12](https://phoena12.tumblr.com/) asked: Angst prompt request thingy (!!!!l "I don't wanna be alone right now" Ink boy sammy being sad pls?**

Done in [@metamatronic](https://tmblr.co/mG_ILTJBGnwhICfZV78z28A) ‘s [Optic Ink AU](https://metamatronic.tumblr.com/tagged/optic)

* * *

 

Sammy had woken up alone and confused in the studio, buried under a pile of bacon soup. To make matters worse, the studio looked nothing like he remembered. There was ink everywhere, he had to fight these weird human-shaped piles of ink, and that wasn’t even counting the insane “Alice” or the deformed copies of the Butcher Gang. Things had been bad enough when Joey had been running things, but it was an absolute horror show now. The one bright spot in this hellhole was Lensey. Sure, meeting Lensey had been pretty terrifying, but the projector headed man was a constant companion for Sammy. A pillar of something almost resembling normalcy. He didn’t know why, but he knew he could trust Lensey. There was something different about him. He wasn’t like the other creatures there. There was something special, almost familiar about him. It had been nice once Henry had joined their little group, but in the quieter moments, Sammy still preferred to stay with Lensey.

Then they’d found Wally, and later Joey. Seeing Wally again had been alright, Sammy supposed. He had never been overly fond of the janitor. He was sure how he felt about Joey, though. The second he saw his former boss, he wanted to deck the man. That bastard was going to fix everything if it was the last thing he did. Then Joey had revealed just what had happened to Norman. The realization had come crashing down on Sammy. He and Norman hadn’t been that close during their time at the studio, but he’d always considered the projectionist to be a good friend. He had hoped Norman had escaped the same fate so many of the others had met. But his hopes had been dashed. Norman had been turned into a monster, even worse than Wally. After the reveal, Sammy had stumbled out of the organ room and into his office, collapsing to the floor in a heap, his back to the wall. Initially, Norman had followed, concerned about his friend. Soon enough, though, Norman decided it would be best to leave. Sammy needed some time alone. But Sammy reached out and caught Norman’s arm, dragging him back.

“I don’t wanna be alone right now.” He whispered, drawing into himself. Norman’s whole demeanor softened, and he knelt beside the music director, wrapping his arms around the smaller man. It was almost as if he was telling him, ‘It’s going to be alright.’

“I’m sorry.” Sammy began to cry, clinging to Norman’s inky body. “I’m so so sorry. I should have done something to stop this. I should have woken up sooner. I should have-” Norman shook his head, putting a finger to Sammy’s lips. The projectionist picked up a piece of paper, scrawling something on it before holding it up to Sammy.

“There was nothing you could have done.”

“But I should have done something.” Sammy protested weakly.

“Don’t do this to yourself.” Norman wrote. “This wasn’t your fault, Sammy. Joey did this, not you.” Sammy sniffled, wiping some tears away.

“You’re right. It’s Joey’s fault.” He said. “Can’t let Wally see me crying, either. He’ll never let me hear the end of it if he does.” Norman made a sound that was probably supposed to be a laugh and nodded, helping Sammy to his feet.

“I gotta go give Joey a piece of my mind now,” Sammy said, cracking his knuckles. “He’s gonna fix everyone and then we’re all gonna go home.” He rolled up his sleeves and strode out. Norman smiled to himself and followed the music director out.


	45. Chapter 45

> Prompt from [@phoena12](https://tmblr.co/m4zzgIg40wGyqWrbVCrWeVw)
> 
>  
> 
> “Wally glitter bombs Sammy”
> 
> “Wally is sick and tired of being the one ends getting tricked most of the time (he’ll never forgive Sammy and bendy for letting his head get stuck in a pumpkin. Yes he’s blaming them) and seeing as bendy is literally the devil incarnate most of the time and is too sly for wally to trick he instead aims for the latter, Sammy.”

 

It was the day after Halloween, and Wally was scheming. After the Halloween dare that had gotten his head stuck in a pumpkin, he wanted payback against Bendy and Sammy. However, Bendy was a bit too difficult of a target. So that left Sammy. It would be pretty easy to get under Sammy’s skin, but that wasn’t what Wally wanted. He wanted Sammy to be inconvenienced for a good portion of time, just as he’d been. He went to Bendy for help, knowing how devious the little demon could be.

“Soooo.” Bendy grinned at Wally from his desk. “You need my help, huh?”

“Yeah yeah, laugh it up.” Wally rolled his eyes. “I just wanna prank him, okay? You gonna help or not?”

“Fine.” Bendy steepled his fingers. “So you need ideas, right?”

“Yep.”

“Glitter.”

“Excuse me?” Wally frowned.

“Find some way to put glitter on him.” Bendy said, leaning on his desk and grinning. “That &%@# is almost impossible to get off. One time, Boris got into a packet of glitter and we couldn’t get the stuff out of his fur for weeks.” Wally nodded slowly, a grin spreading across his face.

“This is gonna be great.” He said, starting to laugh.

And so he got to work. When Alice and Susie found out, they tried to get Wally to call off the prank. Both of them knew that if he went through with this, he’d get pranked back by Sammy. Hard. And they would, of course, be involved in this.

“You’re going to regret this.” Susie said as she watched Wally putting his glitter trap together. “Sammy is going to come after you with everything he has. He hates glitter.”

“This was Bendy’s idea, wasn’t it?” Alice asked.

“It’ll be a minor inconvenience.” Wally waved his hand in a vague dismissive motion. “It’s just gonna annoy him.”

“Yes, but you know how he gets when people prank him.” Susie said. “You remember the superglue prank. He did that to Bendy twice. Twice! What do you think he’ll do to you?”

“It’ll be fine.” Wally insisted.

It wasn’t fine. Wally rigged up a bucket to dump glitter over Sammy when he opened the door to his office, knowing full well that he’d have to clean up the excess glitter. Sammy had gotten very quiet, turning around slowly as Wally approached with his broom and dustpan. There was a dangerous glint in the music director’s eye.

“You know this means war, don’t you?” Sammy said softly. Wally made a small squeaking sound and quickly backed up. He hid in the recording booth, where Susie, Alice, and Allison were rehearsing.

“It backfired, didn’t it?” Susie said, a self-satisfied smirk on her face.

“He said this means war.” Wally whispered.

“We told you not to do it.” Alice sighed, shaking her head. “We told him, didn’t we?” Wally looked to Allison, hoping for some beacon of comfort.

“You’re toast.” She said, shaking her head as well. Wally whimpered.

 

The next few weeks were devoted to Wally trying to avoid Sammy by any means necessary. It was surprisingly hard. Sammy seemed to be channeling his character from the movie, moving in the shadows, appearing when Wally least expected him to. Wally was on edge almost 24/7, always looking over his shoulder. By the end of the second week, Wally gave up. He went into Sammy’s office and just stood there, his arms out.

“I give up.” He said. “I can’t take it anymore. Just do whatever you want.” Sammy turned around in his chair, smiling.

“Well? Do it!” Wally said. “You’re killing me!”

“That was the point.” Sammy’s smile widened.

Wally blinked. “Wha- Excuse me?”

“I’ve been tormenting you for two weeks now.” Sammy leaned back in his chair, hands behind his head. “You spent every hour of every workday looking over your shoulder, wondering what I was going to do. That was my revenge.” Wally just stared at him.

“You are one of the most terrifying men I’ve ever met.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”


	46. Chapter 46

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This one is kinda sad

Henry And The Ink Machine belongs to [@thelostmoongazer](https://tmblr.co/mD95Pv_yldGWnvNtGlATqCQ)

And Buddy belongs to [@upperstories](https://tmblr.co/mpn2FA5TUS38yZzhhvX-KaQ)

* * *

_It’s not right._

Bendy paused when he heard Cordelia’s voice come out of the tape recorder. He hadn’t thought about that girl in years. She’d just been a scared intern when he’d left. Nothing more, nothing less. She’d talked to him maybe once or twice, but mostly she had stayed out of his way. She’d always been trying to stay on everyone’s good side. He’d seen her once or twice on the streets, out with her brother, but she’d never seen him. He didn’t need her pity. He didn’t need anyone’s pity. He’d almost looked her number up before returning to the studio but thought better of it. Her tune towards him could have changed in the years that had passed. She probably didn’t even remember the living toon.

“Never wanted to do anything fun. She was a bigger goody two shoes than Alice.” He muttered to himself as he pressed the play button again. Buddy stuck his tongue out at the bigger toon.

 _It’s not right._  Cordelia’s voice continued.  _I don’t care what Sammy or Wally or even Mr. Drew say, it’s not right! We can’t keep treating that little toon this way. It’s not his fault Bendy ran off, and I know I certainly don’t blame him, what with the way Mr. Drew was treating him. I think we’d all like to run away from this place sometimes. God help me if Mr. Drew ever hears this tape. I wish I knew where Henry went. Everything’s gotten so much worse since he disappeared. Mr. Drew always changes the subject when I ask him. I…I think he might have done something to Henry. If he did, then I can’t stay here. I have to get out._

The tape abruptly ended there. Bendy stared at the tape. She had to be overreacting. Cordelia always did that. She was always overreacting and jumping to conclusions, right? Part of him wanted to be glad she’d sympathized with him. Another wanted to be furious that she didn’t do anything about her indignation. But then again, she was just an intern. Her power in the situation was extremely limited.

“What a spaz, right?” Bendy snickered, looking down the Buddy. “She always blows things out of proportion.”

Buddy made an indignant noise. He didn’t remember a lot about Cordelia, but he knew she’d been nicer to him than the other people in the studio. She’d never called him a failure or yelled or ridiculed him. The two of them had snuck off to cry together in the projection booth when things had gotten particularly bad. She’d been nice. Norman too. Some of the other interns had been nice too, but he’d had more contact with her due to Sammy always pawning him off on her when it was time for the music department to toonsit.

“Did you have a thing for her or something?” Bendy started to laugh. “No offense, but it’d never work.”

Buddy shook his head furiously. Why did Bendy have to make it weird? Cordelia had been nice, that was it. And when he’d been around her, he hadn’t felt like he was missing something. His chaotic mind had quieted down for the few minutes he’d been around the intern. Norman hadn’t asked anything of them either, letting the little toon hideout even when Cordelia wasn’t there. If Joey tried to yell at him, Norman’s excuse was that he just hadn’t seen the little demon. Maybe that was why Norman had ended up the way he had. At least Cordelia had gotten out.

“Whatever.” Bendy shrugged it off. “Wonder what did happen to Henry, though.”

This gave Buddy pause. Cordelia had always talked about Henry. Everyone had talked about Henry. There was something about that name that made his head feel all fuzzy. He knew that name, he was sure of it. He wanted to ask Bendy who Henry was. He wanted to ask  _everyone_  who Henry was. But he didn’t have the words. So he just grumbled and followed Bendy, still wondering who Henry could possibly be. 


	47. Chapter 47

**[magicalmonsterhero](https://magicalmonsterhero.tumblr.com/) asked: Song Prompt: American Pie**

I based this a little on [@disneyphantomlover](https://tmblr.co/mtxWKjFluVA2ChP3UkW9yuw) ‘s rendition of Sammy.

* * *

 

_A long, long time ago_

_I can still remember how that music used to make me smile_

_And I knew if I had my chance_

_That I could make those people dance_

_And maybe they’d be happy for a while_

All Sammy Lawrence had ever wanted to do was make music. From the time he’d been very young, it had been his dream. He’d seen how the music in church moved people, and how the music of the composers of the past had swept people up in what they could do. He’d hoped his parents would be supportive of his decision. After all, he already had his life figured out. They, however, were not. Sammy’s father wanted him to become a minister, like himself, and his mother went along with whatever Father Lawrence said. And so Sammy had run away from home as soon as he turned 18. It was hard, living on the streets, but he managed. He always managed. After all, he had a dream he needed to make come true. He was going to make music, he was going to make people smile.

_But February made me shiver_

_With every paper I’d deliver_

_Bad news on the doorstep_

_I couldn’t take one more step_

Things got hard when the Depression hit. He joined so many others, huddled together in makeshift houses and lean-tos. Sammy had truly thought his life was over, that this was it. He thought he was going to die, penniless and alone, crammed together with a collection of strangers. He picked up some work delivering papers, throwing them on doorsteps for a dollar or two. He trudged on, even in the winter when he could barely feel his fingers. Sometimes he sang for the others in the Hoovervilles or for people on the street. People would throw spare change into his hat mostly out of pity. He was so thin his skin looked like paper stretched over the bones. That was how he met Joey Drew. He’d been singing on a street corner one day when the man had walked up and offered him a job. Sammy almost couldn’t believe his luck. For a moment, he’d thought Joey was pulling his leg, that the man was playing a cruel prank on him. But Joey had been genuine, offering his hand to the other man.

_I can’t remember if I cried_

_When I read about his widowed bride_

_But something touched me deep inside_

_The day the music died_

He’d heard about his father’s death shortly after he’d started working at Joey Drew Studios. Henry asked if Sammy wanted to go to the funeral, but Sammy had firmly told him it wasn’t going to happen. He knew it seemed cold, but he wasn’t about to jeopardise all he’d worked for just so that his mother could berate him for being so selfish. His family hadn’t cared about him. They’d only cared about what they could make him into. He had a song to share with the world and he was going to do it, no matter what.

.

_Now for ten years we’ve been on our own_

_And moss grows fat on a rollin’ stone_

_But that’s not how it used to be_

_When the jester sang for the king and queen_

_In a coat he borrowed from James Dean_

_And a voice that came from you and me_

For a long time, things were good. The studio grew, the cartoons took off, and soon everyone knew Sammy’s name. He was ecstatic. He was finally able to do what he’d always wanted. He was making people smile with his music. More people were hired to the studio. Thomas Connor, Grant Cohen, Wally Franks, Norman Polk, Shawn Flynn….Susie Campbell. Susie was one of the best things about the studio. Her smile, her voice, the way she acted out her character. He fell for her. Hard. For the first time in his life, Sammy actually felt happy. He was content with his life and had enough money to stop living in the studio and get his own apartment. He had what he’d always wanted.

_Oh, and while the king was looking down_

_The jester stole his thorny crown_

_The courtroom was adjourned_

_No verdict was returned_

Then Henry left. He signed up and went off to war, leaving all of them behind. Joey had a screaming match with the man the day he left, which made everyone avoid Joey’s office for the rest of the day afterward. Things started changing after that. The ink machine and Murray Hill were brought in. Everything smelled of ink after that. Ink ink ink ink ink. It was all ink all the time. Sammy felt like he was going crazy! His work was always getting ruined, his office was always flooding, the  _stairwell_ was flooding. Sammy had complained to Joey multiple times, but Joey’s solutions only made things worse. Ink valves, ink pumps, none of them solved the actual problem. Sammy was starting to question whether he still wanted to work here. But this job was all he had. 

.

 

_Oh, and there we were all in one place_

_A generation lost in space_

_With no time left to start again_

_So come on, Jack be nimble, Jack be quick_

_Jack Flash sat on a candlestick_

_‘Cause fire is the devil’s only friend_

Something was wrong with Joey. Sammy had always known something was different about Joey, but it had become more obvious now that Henry wasn’t there to reign the other man in. Pentagrams began appearing around the studio, appearing at such an alarming rate that Wally had given up trying to clean all of them. Employees began disappearing. Joey said they’d quit, but Sammy knew how Joey got when people quit, and the calm smile he gave when asked about the missing employees was nothing like the demon that appeared when people genuinely quit. There was something terrifying about what Joey was becoming. He wouldn’t listen to reason anymore. Nothing mattered but his dreams. Sammy began to question whether or not this job was really worth it. He’d gotten job offers from other studios and he was thinking maybe it was time to take them up on their offers.

_Oh, and as I watched him on the stage_

_My hands were clenched in fists of rage_

_No angel born in Hell_

_Could break that Satan’s spell_

Susie was replaced a few months before Sammy left. Sammy was furious at first, both at Joey and at the girl who had stolen Susie’s job. But once he met Allison Pendle, all his anger vanished. She didn’t deserve the anger he’d held towards her. She was just a bright-eyed former intern. It wasn’t her fault. Susie didn’t see it that way. The two of them had fought over Sammy’s kindness towards Allison, and eventually, they’d split up. It hurt, and Sammy threw himself into Allison’s arms. It was cruel for him to rebound with her and he knew it. But he needed someone to hold.

_And as the flames climbed high into the night_

_To light the sacrificial rite_

_I saw Satan laughing with delight_

_The day the music died_

In the end, though, Sammy couldn’t take it anymore. Susie was gone, he’d broken Allison’s heart, and people were leaving faster than Joey could hire new employees. Sammy gave his ten days notice, got screamed at by Joey, and never looked back. His dream wasn’t worth the conditions he had to endure there. It wasn’t worth his ruined relationship with both Allison and Susie. It wasn’t worth Joey’s abuse. So he took the job offered to him by a rival studio and started work again. He would achieve his dream once more.

.

 

_I met a girl who sang the blues_

_And I asked her for some happy news_

_But she just smiled and turned away_

_I went down to the sacred store_

_Where I’d heard the music years before_

_But the man there said the music wouldn’t play_

He wrote music again after he left Joey Drew Studios, but it wasn’t the same. It didn’t have the same spark it had had before. He pushed himself harder than he should have, writing page after page after page. His employers praised him for his work, but he wasn’t satisfied. It wasn’t the same. Why wasn’t it the same? His anger at Joey Drew grew. How dare that man take away the only thing Sammy had ever loved?! How dare he take away Sammy’s music?!

_And in the streets, the children screamed_

_The lovers cried and the poets dreamed_

_But not a word was spoken_

_The church bells all were broken_

When he got a letter from Joey Drew himself, years later, Sammy hesitated about whether to open it or not. He did, eventually. It was an invitation to come back to the studio. Joey said he had something to show him. Sammy, tired and longing for what he had at the studio, went back. His music had died and he wanted to be able to sing again. But what he found there wouldn’t bring his music back. It only drove him deeper into madness.

_And the three men I admire most_

_The Father, Son and the Holy Ghost_

_They caught the last train for the coast_

_The day the music died_


	48. Chapter 48

**[phoena12](https://phoena12.tumblr.com/) asked: More prompts! -"you said everything was going to be ok"! -the clash of animators! (Aka joey says he can draw better than Henry and so the two have a draw off with the toons as judges) -"a rose for your woes"?**

This got a little dark, so I’m sorry about that. But here we go. 

* * *

 

Coming back to the studio had been a mistake. Cordelia understood that now. She knew she’d come back here for a reason. She’d come back for Sammy. But she’d been wrong to come back. Everything was wrong now. She didn’t know why it was wrong, just that it was. She leaned against the fallen beams as Sammy tied up the intruder, someone she was certain she knew.

“My prophet?” She said, beginning to nervously play with her hair.

“Yes, my dear acolyte?” Sammy hummed.

“Why are we sacrificing this man to our Lord?”

“Because our love requires sacrifice,” Sammy said. “He must notice us.”

“But…Don’t we know him?” Her memories were still fuzzy, but she was certain she knew the man tied up before her. She knew him the same way she’d known Sammy. She’d worked for him. But his name eluded her, vanishing like smoke every time she tried to grasp it.

“Know him?” Sammy paused, studying the intruder’s face. “His face…It is familiar.” The former music director quickly shook his head though. “No, now is not the time for that.”

“But Sammy, what if he’s a friend?” Cordelia asked. Sammy turned slowly towards her, an air of dangerous calm about him.

“Are you questioning me, my acolyte?” He asked with a smile.

“O-Of course not.” She flinched back, drawing into herself.

“Good.” Sammy turned his attention back to the man. “I know that his love makes you afraid, my acolyte, but you must trust me. I know what I’m doing.”

“I trust you.” She whispered. She stayed to the side as the man woke up and Sammy delivered his speech. The man immediately seemed to recognize them, struggling against his bonds.

“Sammy! What are you doing?!” He demanded.

“How do you know my name?” Sammy asked, tilting his head to the side.

“We were coworkers! Sammy, it’s me! Henry!”

“Henry…” Cordelia whispered. Yes, she knew that name. He had….He had been her boss. Her eyes widened and she stumbled back.

“Cordelia?” Sammy looked to her, frowning behind his mask. “What is wrong, my acolyte?”

“Everything.” She began to rock back and forth, staring in horror around her and at Sammy. “Everything is wrong!”

“What are you-”

“None of this is alright!” She began to cry, tearing at her hair. “We’re monsters, Sammy! Monsters! Look at what we’ve become! Look at what we were about to do!” For a moment, Sammy was quiet, just staring at her.

“So the words of this intruder have shaken your faith.” He finally said. “We can’t have that.” He quickly ran into the recording booth. Cordelia ran after him, pounding on the door.

“Sammy! Don’t do this!” She screamed, even as his voice blared over the loudspeaker. The door deeper into the studio was opening. Her throat was raw as she screamed Sammy’s name over and over. Behind her, Henry had gotten free.

“Come on, we have to go.” He said, grabbing her by the shoulder.

“No! I can’t leave him!” She sank to her knees, sobbing into her hands.  Henry looked back to the searchers popping up. Then he ran. The door to the recording booth opened, showing the puddle of ink that had once been Sammy. She gathered his mask in her arms, holding it to her chest.

“You said everything was going to be okay.” She said. “Why did you lie to me?”

.

.

Joey and Henry had gotten into fights before, but never one like this. This was a battle for the ages, a battle….of cartoons. The two creators had gotten into a fight about who was really the better artist, each thinking they were superior, and now they were going to have an art off. The challenge was to draw the three toons in their own respective styles.

“Are you sure we should be letting them do this?” Wally whispered to Bendy as the two men set up their stations.

“Eh, it’s fine,” Bendy said. The little demon was currently riding high on his newly appointed power. He, Alice, and Boris would be the judges in this little contest, and he was rather excited to watch Joey and Henry beg for his approval. Wally saw the dangerous look in the demon’s eyes and groaned. He was standing by with his bucket and mop in case things got messy, AKA in case they started throwing ink at each other.

“Ready, set, go!” Bendy crowed, scrambling back to his chair to watch the proceedings. Alice filed her nails, pausing every so often to examine them. Boris watched intently, trying to be serious. Wally just leaned on his mop, watching as the two men drew frantically. He wondered if it was bad that something like this was normal for him. Nothing in his life was really normal anymore. After a few minutes, both Henry and Joey proudly displayed their drawings. Henry’s was in the style of the show. It wasn’t unexpected that he’d draw that way, given he was one of the main animators. Joey’s drawing was in a similarly cartoony style but a bit more stylized. His style was darker than Henry’s. Creepier. Bendy whistled as he looked over the drawings.

“Good show, both of ya.” He said, handing them back once the other two turns had a look.

“So, who won?” Joey asked eagerly. The toons looked at one another, then made a big show of huddling together and whispering. After a moment, they broke apart, all looking very serious.

“The winner is…” Alice cleared her throat.

“Wally!” Bendy made jazz hands towards the janitor, who just stood there shaking his head. He should have known they’d pull something like this. Henry and Joey stood there, mouths open as they stared at the toons. The toons looked rather proud of themselves. Wally got his mop ready. The ink fight was incoming. Sure enough, a few minutes later he could himself hiding behind a table as Henry and Joey faced off against their creations in a giant ink fight.

“Why did I agree to do this?” He muttered to himself.

.

.

Allison Pendle had not been having a good day. She’d thought her first day would be better. Instead, everyone had treated her like some kind of interloper. Like she wasn’t supposed to be there. The music director had been frigid at best, and a few of the interns had screamed at her for taking Susie’s job. Allison didn’t understand what she’d done wrong. She’d just applied for an intern position. It was Joey Drew who’d been the one to give her the voice acting job. The end of the day found her crying in a stairwell. Most everyone had left by that point, so she wasn’t afraid of anyone coming across her.

“A rose for your woes?”

She looked up abruptly to see Joey Drew standing beside her, holding out a single red rose.

“T-Thank you.” She sniffed, taking the flower.

“What’s wrong?” He sat down beside her.

“E-Everyone’s treating me like I shouldn’t be here,” Allison explained as she tried to wipe her tears away. “I don’t understand. It’s not my fault Miss Susie got fired.”

“I know.” Joey snaked an arm around her shoulder, drawing her close to him. “I’d hoped your first day would go better, honestly. I’m so sorry.”

“It’s not your fault.” She said quickly. “You couldn’t have known this would happen.”

“Yes, but I feel some of the responsibility falls to me,” Joey said with an apologetic smile. “The change was rather abrupt. I should have given everyone some warning. Even you were caught off guard by my decision.”

“Yeah. I kind of was.” Allison admitted, hugging her knees. “B-But it’s okay. Really, it is.”

“I do hope you’ll still stay,” Joey said. “I see great things in your future, my dear. You can be a star.”

“You really think so, Mr. Drew?” Allison looked at him with shining eyes.

“I do.” He smiled at her. “And please, call me Joey.”


	49. Chapter 49

**[dreamnoteprincess](https://dreamnoteprincess.tumblr.com/) asked: If you have time, a fanfic prompt on Henry learning how to raise the toons?**

This turned into shameless fluff.

* * *

 

Henry had raised four kids, so raising toons couldn’t be that hard, right? Oh, how wrong he was. The toons were like toddlers in terms of mischief but had the intelligence and dexterity of adults. After about a week, Henry began to wonder if bringing them home had been a mistake.

“I feel like dying.” He groaned as he fell back onto his chair at the kitchen table. “It’s like raising the kids all over again.”

“They’re not that bad,” Linda said. “They behave if asked nicely.”

“Not Bendy.”

“Oh? Maybe he’s just spiting you.” Linda hummed, stirring the contents of the stew pot.

“Sounds like him.” Henry snorted.

“Alice and Boris are dears, though,” Linda said. “I’ve been teaching Boris how to knit and I think he really likes it.”

“Yeah, that sounds like Boris.” Henry laughed. “I suppose that means the project on the couch is his, is it?”

“Mm-hm. And Alice has really gotten into playing the piano.” Linda continued as she cooked. “She says it reminds her of Sammy.”

“Ah.” Henry’s laughter trailed off. The toons had occasional memory relapses, all but Bendy that was, and Henry was still trying to figure out how to help them with that.

“It’s a good memory, don’t worry,” Linda assured him.

“I know.” Henry sighed heavily, leaning back in the chair. “But still…How am I supposed to help them when they remember the bad things?”

“Well, what helps you?”

“Hm?”

“What helps you when you remember the things you’d rather forget?” Linda asked. “I know it might not work for them, but it’s worth a try at the very least.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” Henry nodded and got up from his chair. “Thank you, Lin.”

“You’re welcome.” She turned her head to kiss his cheek. “Now go on. I’m sure they need you.” Henry left the kitchen, going upstairs to where the toons were resting. Boris and Alice were huddled in the corner, both whimpering.

“Hey, what happened?” Henry immediately ran to kneel beside them.

“B-Bad memories.” Boris stammered.

“Our creation,” Alice said. Henry settled on the floor with them, taking their hands.

“You’re okay.” He said. “You’re safe. I’m here.” Grounding always worked for him. When he woke up screaming in the middle of the night, focusing on Linda’s hand in his brought him back. He wasn’t there anymore. He was here. He was alright. He was safe.

“Focus on my voice.” He continued. “You’re not in the studio anymore. Joey can’t hurt you.” It took a few minutes, but they eventually stopped crying. They huddled up to him, taking comfort in his warmth.

“Thank you,” Alice whispered.

“You’re welcome,” Henry said. “I’ll always be here for you.”


	50. Chapter 50

**[allialchemy](https://allialchemy.tumblr.com/) asked: Hello, are you still doing the prompt thing and if yes can I ask you for a story? I had this thought in my mind for some time and I really like the way you write so... Bendy is mostly stable toon, physically and mentally, but when emotions take the better of him, his demonic aura starts to act up. Thank you so much and keep writing you are really good at it :D**

I really appreciate it! I’ll do my best! I’m sorry it’s so short. 

This takes place in [@yunisverse](https://tmblr.co/mRGj3hUquKMYprA0_Sc5RnA)‘s [Rubberhose AU](http://yunisverse.tumblr.com/tagged/rubberhose-au). It is, however, not canon I’m assuming.

* * *

 

Henry and Bendy were having a fight, and Alice knew this wasn’t going to end well. Boris had been trying to break the two of them up, but things were getting heated. Bendy’s form was beginning to distort, causing Alice to take a few steps back.

“Henry….You really should stop,” Alice said, wringing her hands.

“No! He’s not getting away with this!” Henry said, steam beginning to come out of his ears. “Not this time! He needs a talking to!”

“Henry, please,” Alice begged. She was already starting to feel sick to her stomach. Henry walked over to address her, allowing Bendy to finally snap.

“Do̕n̵'t̡ y̧o̶u̸ ̢w͟al҉k͡ aw͢a̸y ̧fr̴om̵ m̧e̕,” Bendy growled, beginning to morph into his demonic form. Everyone in the hallway felt the change in atmosphere. It was as though the air had become heavier. Each of them struggled to breathe, Boris’ chest cavity popping open due to the strain. Ink began to drip down the walls.

“What the-” Henry gasped. He could hear his heart pounding in his ears, a sound he hadn’t heard since he’d become a toon.

“I tried to warn you,” Alice said. “When he loses control… _This_  happens.”

“Run!” Boris began to scramble down the hallway.

“Y̬̦̊ͫ͛͐͒͞Ȍͫ͒̾̔҉͉̲̲̰Ǜ̮͚̮͉̞̳̳̽̃̒̍͊͟ ̸̹̱̆̾̈͐̃̿C̣̰̟A͞N͔͚͚̟̿̊͂̍͆͞'̵̹̗̣̰̺̘͂͆ͦ͂̓Ṭ͇̐̓̿ͅ ͫ̅̽͒R̖͔̖͛́͛̄ͨ͠Ų̭͔̖̟̒̏̚N̙͊̓̽ͯͬ,̽̒͝ ̬Ḧ͉̹́̒̐ͪ̽̚Ẹ̶̯̫̰̓N̄́ͨ̒ͯ͝R̩̙͇̙̱̻̍ͪY̫͔̒̏̅͑̌!ͦ̔ͩ͒̃ ͈̰͈̫͖̗̖ͤ̾͑̆ͫͣ͟I̘͔͚̝̣̩͚ͦͮ'̟̔ͮ̈L̴̮̠̹̘̗̑̆̅ͪ̈L̢̤̗ͬ̂͗͗̽ ̛͚̫̗̬̮̠̻̑ͫ̔̌̅F̞̰͖̉͐ͨ̈́̚Ḭ͙̦̗ͦͩ̏ͧͨ̇N̠̱̯͎ͧ͛͊̿̆ͨ͡D̛ͣ̾ ͔̩̗͎̳̱ͯͩ͊Y͔͕̼͆͊ͮ̈́̽̚͟O̦͕U̡̖͋͋ͫͨ!̩̟͚̺̩ͣ͋́́͂̃ͅ” Bendy roared, thundering after the trio. The three of them ran into the elevator, taking it down to level 14. As they got farther and farther away from Bendy, the oppressive atmosphere disappeared.  

“What the &%@$ was that?” Henry asked, looking at Alice. Alice rubbed her arm, trying to make herself smaller.

“We think Joey managed to infuse him with some sort of demonic energy when he summoned him.” She explained.

“Normally he’s pretty stable,” Boris said. “But then when he loses it, that happens.”

“He doesn’t recognize friend from foe. He’ll just kill everything.” Alice shrunk into herself, physically becoming smaller. “We avoid him when he gets like this.”

“&%@$ing Joey,” Henry muttered. “So how do we stop it?”

“Stop it?” Boris tilted his head to the side. “We don’t.”

“We just hide and wait for it to blow over,” Alice said. “He can kill us.”

“I don’t understand.” Henry frowned. Toons were nigh unkillable, he’d found. Things that killed normal people didn’t do squat to them.

“He can sever the connection between our soul and our body,” Alice whispered, her body beginning to shake. “He can  _unmake_  us.”

“Jesus,” Henry said. So they really couldn’t run into Bendy. Joey really had made a monster. They were in trouble if they ran into him.

“Better stay here.” Henry cleared his throat. “We’ll check on him later.” The other two nodded, huddling close to one another. As long as they stayed near the lift, they’d be fine. For now at least.


	51. We'll Meet Again

Written for [@ask-joeydrewstudios](https://tmblr.co/mEKj2fvdY3Z3PdYpAcyK9pw) because of [this](https://ask-joeydrewstudios.tumblr.com/post/167720654918/hey-who-wants-some-late-night-samsie-angst) post. 

* * *

 

All things eventually come to an end. Such is the way of the world. Susie knew this perfectly well. That didn’t mean it was easy watching her husband struggle for breath in a hospital bed. Both of them had known this day would come, given how much Sammy smoked. The foreknowledge didn’t make it hurt any less. He looked so weak, his veins standing out starkly against the paper-thin skin, and his white hair limp. Susie ran her thumb over Sammy’s hand, trying her hardest not to start crying. This would be her last night with him. They’d said he wouldn’t last the night.

“What’s with the sad face?” Sammy asked, forcing a smile despite his wheezing. “I’m not dead yet.”

“You’re right.” She tried to wipe the tears away. “I’m being stupid, I’m sorry.”

“Hey, no apologizing.” He said. “You didn’t do anything wrong.” He reached up a shaky hand to cradle her cheek. She lifted her hand to hold his.

“It’s my own damn fault.” He said. “No need for you to be apologizing.”

“But I should have done something. I-”

“Hey.” His voice was firm. “There’s nothing you could have done. You know how I can be-” He was cut off by a coughing fit, his hand slipping away from Susie’s face. This only made Susie’s tears well up even more. She hated this. She hated seeing him like this. Once he was done he took a few shaking breaths, looking back to Susie.

“Sing for me, won’t you?” He said. “One last time.”

“Okay.” She forced herself to smile. “What do you want to hear?”

“Vera Lynn. We’ll Meet Again. I’ll sing with you.”

“Don’t push yourself,” Susie said quickly.

“I want to.” He squeezed her hand. One last time.

Susie hesitated but began to sing anyway. “We’ll meet again. Don’t know where don’t know when. But I know we’ll meet again some sunny day. Keep smiling through, just like you always do. Till the blue skies drive the dark clouds far away.”

“So will you please say ‘Hello’, to the folks that I know. Tell them I won’t be long.” Sammy joined her, his voice nothing but a whisper. “They’ll be happy to know, that as you saw me go, I was singing this song.”

“We’ll meet again. Don’t know where don’t know when. But I know we’ll meet again some sunny day.” They sang together. Susie was beginning to openly sob now as she felt Sammy’s grip on her hand become weaker and weaker. “We’ll meet again. Don’t know where don’t know when. But I know we’ll meet again some sunny day. Keep smiling through. Just like you always do. ‘Til the blue skies drive the dark clouds far away.” Susie stopped singing, unable to continue due to how hard she was crying.

So Sammy continued on, his voice getting softer and softer. “So will you please say “Hello” to the folks that I know. Tell them I won’t be long. They’ll be happy to know. That as you saw me go I was singin’ this song.” He looked up at Susie with lidded eyes. “We’ll meet again. Don’t know where. Don’t know when. But I know we’ll meet again some sunny day.”

“I love you.” Susie managed to choke out.

“I love you too,” Sammy whispered, his eyes closing for one last time. Slowly, his breathing stopped, the machines beginning to beep as his heartbeat flatlined. It was over.


	52. Chapter 52

**[phoena12](https://phoena12.tumblr.com/) asked: Guess who~ More prompts! -"you said you wouldn't laugh" -"it's definitely safe here... probably" - "gosh darn friendo imma diddly darn snap your neck" (basically bendy trying to find ways to be menacing and avoid swearing, cause sound effects, and freak someone out) (bonus points if someone cries!)**

The last one gets kinda dark, so…sorry

* * *

 

“Sammy, I’m sure it can’t be that bad,” Susie said, knocking on Sammy’s office door.

“I look ridiculous.” Sammy’s said. Somehow, Sammy had gotten turned into a toon again. It was honestly becoming a bit of a problem. Wally had suffered the same fate as well, although he was handling it quite a bit better than Sammy. Perhaps that was due to the fact that Joey had given him the day off due to his toonification, allowing the janitor to go mess around and pull gags with the toons. Sammy was not taking it so well. He’d thrown a blanket over himself and made a beeline for his office. Susie had been sent after him.

“Sammy, I won’t laugh at you, I promise,” Susie said. “Cross my heart and hope to die.”

“You promise?” Sammy’s voice was small.

“Yes, Sammy. I promise.”

The door opened a crack, then fully. Sammy had the blanket draped around his shoulders, but Sammy could clearly see how his body had been simplified. He was smaller, thinner, his appendages more like noodles than actual body parts. Pie cut eyes stared nervously out from under a fringe of what used to be dirty blond hair. He looked a lot younger without those frown lines and bags under his eyes.

“Are those…wings?” Susie asked, trying to stifle laughter.

“You said you wouldn’t laugh!” Sammy said, stamping his foot. His little wings bristled and his halo shone.

“I’m sorry.” Susie bit her lip. “You just look so adorable.”

“I don’t want to be adorable!” Sammy groaned, retrieving his blanket and throwing it over himself as he retreated back into his office.

“It’s not that bad.” Susie closed the door behind her. “I mean, it’s happened enough times that I’m sure Joey has a way to fix it.”

“The fact that it keeps happening is worrying enough,” Sammy muttered.

“So…” Sammy slid in next to him on the cot. “How does it feel?”

“What?”

“How does it feel?” Susie repeated. “To be a toon, I mean.”

“I feel a heck of a lot grumpier,” Sammy said after thinking for a moment. “Like I want to go nag everyone about everything.”

“Well, I suppose if you were a supporting character, you would be a bit of a grump.” Susie rested her head on his shoulder. “But that can’t be all. Have you tried playing music?”

“Didn’t seem worth it.” Sammy held up his hands. “I don’t know how to play with only four fingers.”

“Have you tried pulling something out of hammerspace?”

Sammy opened his mouth, then closed it again. “Huh.”

“You haven’t, have you?” Susie laughed, sitting up. “Why don’t you try? Toon instruments will work for you.” Sammy shrugged off his blanket and screwed up his face. It took a few tries for him to finally get something out. Sammy kept getting too into his head. Susie wasn’t surprised when he finally pulled out an animated banjo.

“What do you want to hear?” He asked, grinning at Susie. She made a big show of thinking about it before answering.

“Willow Weep For Me.” She said.

“You got it.” Sammy closed his eyes and began playing. He knew the song so well he didn’t even have to think to play anymore. Susie listened happily. Sammy’s voice was normally very nice, but now it was downright angelic. She couldn’t help but swoon a little, sighing dreamily and leaning against him. Sammy paused.

“What?” He asked.

“Keep singing.” She said, kissing his cheek.

“Well, alright.” And so he did.

.

.

“FRANKS!” Murray Hill’s voice boomed throughout the studio as Wally Franks, Boris, Bendy, and Alice skidded around a corner and into the depths of the studio, all grinning and laughing uncontrollably.

“Golly, he’s really mad,” Boris said.

“He’ll get over it,” Wally said, pressing the button for the lift. “Let’s go see Shawn next.”

“Oh no,” Bendy said. “Flynn’ll kill us if we mess with his stuff. You know he will.” Wally turned to them, a grim comparable to Bendy’s gracing his toonified face.

“So?” He asked. “Plus, we can just hide in Alice’s area if things get bad.”

As it turned out, things did get bad. The quartet streaked into Alice’s meet and greet area, trying to ignore Shawn’s rather colorful threats.

“It’s definitely safe here,” Wally whispered. “….Probably.”

“I told you he’d try to kill us.” Bendy hissed.

“Hows was I supposed to know the coffee machine broke?!”

“Y’know kid, sometimes you gotta think through your gags.” Bendy continued. “Decide who’ll be most receptive to the gag.”

“Who will give you the best payoff and all that.” Alice made a vague hand gesture.

“I KNOW YOU’RE IN HERE!” The door slammed open and Shawn came storming in, covered head to toe in ink and absolutely seething. He was followed by Thomas, who was making half-hearted attempts to stop him.

“You can’t kill them.” He said.

“I CAN DAMN WELL TRY!” Shawn snapped. “NOW WHERE ARE YOU LITTLE BASTARDS?!”

“No use running now, huh?” Wally’s shoulders slumped. It was then that Bendy got a mischievous look in his eyes. He glanced at Boris, who grinned.

“Whoever said anything about giving up?” Bendy said. As Shawn approached the back of the room, the quartet popped up, all grinning.

“Heya Shawn,” Bendy said. “How’s it going?”

“You know damn well how it’s going!” Shawn stalked forward, pointing an accusing finger at the four toons. The toons continued to smile innocently.

“What? A little ink getting you down?” Wally asked. “It’s just another day at Joey Drew Studios, right?”

“Why you little-” Shawn grabbed for Wally, only for the toon to slip out of his grasp, making a break for it along with the other three. Thomas just stood in the doorway, smoking.

“That’s toon logic for ya.” He said. Shawn muttered some very unsavory words and went to go get cleaned up.

.

.

So, they’d gotten Wally and Sammy all fixed up, although Boris was sad to lose a mischief partner. Now they had to get back to work. It was a bit of a letdown after how exciting the previous few days had been for Bendy. But oh well. Life went on. And as long as Joey wasn’t doing weird black magic stuff, everything was fine. Although, Bendy had run into a new problem. One of the new interns was being an asshole to everyone. Now, Bendy absolutely could not let this stand. No one made the people in his studio feel unsafe. Especially not some snot-nosed brat! So he was going to talk to the kid.

“This is a bad idea.” Allison trailed after him, fidgeting quite a bit. “He’s going to blow up at you. I don’t want that to happen.”

“Relax, Alli,” Bendy said. “It’ll be fine.” He went straight to the animation department and tracked the kid down. He was in the middle of slacking off and throwing crumpled up paper balls at other interns.

“Hey. Kid. I need to talk to you.” Bendy said, folding his arms.

“Hello, sir.” The intern immediately tried to look like he was busy. “What can I do for you?”

“I’ve gotten reports that you’ve been harassing other employees and I’ve got half a mind to talk to Joey about it,” Bendy said. The intern’s eyes widened, then narrowed.

“Don’t you dare.” He said, picking up a bottle of acetone. “I won’t let you.” He kept his voice low, but nonetheless, Allison shrieked and ran off to get Joey. No one looked up since Allison screaming and panicking wasn’t exactly commonplace.

“So you’re just gonna kill me. In front of everyone.” Bendy said, coolly.

“I’ll say it’s an accident.” The intern smiled. “It’s not like you can do anything, right?”

“Gosh darn friendo, Imma diddly darn snap your neck.” Bendy’s form began to change, shifting from that of the friendly toon everyone loved to the monster Joey had summoned. By the time Allison returned with Joey, the intern was on the floor crying, while Bendy stood over him with a proud look on his face. The intern was swiftly fired, and everyone scrambled to get things back to normal.


	53. Chapter 53

**[phoena12](https://phoena12.tumblr.com/) asked: Muhahah! Incoming prompts!! -Monster sammy and the projectionist play tag! -"what the hell is a cosplay"? - susie and Sammy fluff (sammy gets lonely and plays some banjo/ukele, susie hears and decides to join him)**

“GET BACK HERE! I WANT MY MASK BACK!” Sammy howled as he chased after the monster that had previously been known as Norman. Norman made some static noises that sounded like laughter as he streaked through the labyrinth on level 14. Sammy had been preaching and Norman had gotten bored of it, so he’d stolen Sammy’s mask and started running. It took Sammy a moment to register that his mask was gone, but once he did, he was righteously pissed. It was hard to run when you didn’t have feet, but Sammy was managing to do so fairly well. He was actually keeping up with Norman.

“NORMAN!” Sammy shrieked. “I WANT MY MASK!” Norman laughed again and ran faster. The Butcher Gang watched the two monsters run in and out of the labyrinth.

“What are they doing?” Alice asked, walking up behind the three of them.

“Norman stole Sammy’s mask,” Edgar said, kicking his feet back and forth. “We’re betting on how long it takes for the two of them to fall down and start wrestling each other.”

“You actually think that’ll happen?” Alice raised an eyebrow.

“Sammy is very possessive of his mask,” Charley said. “You know how he gets.” Alice shrugged and sat down to watch as well.

“I say the next time they get into the open, Sammy trips Norman.” She said. Sure enough, the next time the two men got into the open, Sammy tripped the projectionist, tackling him to the ground and beginning to wrestle him for the mask. The music director came out on top, holding the mask high in triumph. Norman just sighed. It had been fun while it lasted.

.

.

“What the Hell is a cosplay?”

Wally and Norman looked up from working on their comiccon costumes. Sammy stood in the doorway, a mug of coffee in one hand, the other on the door. When Sammy had asked what they were doing, they’d replied with ‘cosplay’. Sammy obviously thought there was more explanation that was needed.

“It’s when you dress up as your favorite character and pretend to be them!” Wally said with a big smile. “Norman’s gonna be Doctor Strange and I’m gonna be Spiderman!”

“You’re trying to talk to me, I know you are,” Sammy said. Wally frowned slightly, tilting his head to the side.

“He’s just messing with us,” Norman assured him. “He knows perfectly well who the characters are.”

“I know they’re characters from your weird comics, but I don’t know who they are.” Sammy took a sip of his coffee.

“Hey, how good are you at sewing?” Wally asked. “‘Cause I’m having some trouble with the finer details of this.” Sammy set his mug down, looking over Wally’s costume. He crinkled his nose.

“Where did you learn to embroider?” He asked.

“My mom.”

“Move over. I’ll take care of this.” Sammy said, tearing out most of the embroidering details before starting over. Wally watched on in awe as Sammy began to sew in the details.

“I didn’t know you could embroider,” Wally said.

“I’m a man of many talents,” Sammy said with a small smile.

“You want to come with us to the convention?” Norman asked. “You might not know all the characters, but I’m sure you’d be able to find something you like there.”

“We wanna share this with you!” Wally said. Sammy considered this for a moment, pausing in his embroidery as he screwed his face up in thought.

“Yeah, alright.” He said after a moment. “But you can’t make this weird, Wally.”

“What? Me? Make things weird? Psh! I’d never!”

.

.

It was late on a Friday, and Sammy was alone. Susie was busy at some voice actor’s conference an hour or so away, and he hadn’t seen her in nearly a week. The week had been very quiet in the studio, which honestly worried Wally a little, even if he would never admit it.

“You okay?” Wally asked, poking his head into Sammy’s office. “You’ve been pretty quiet this week.”

“I’m fine,” Sammy said. “Don’t worry about it.” He didn’t even snap at him the way he usually did. He just tapped at his desk languidly with his pen, one hand supporting his head.

“Okay…Just, uh…You can talk to us if you want to.” Wally closed the door and left. Maybe he’d talk to Joey about this. Joey might be able to help. Sammy sighed, glancing down at his banjo. Maybe he could play a little song to make himself feel better. Music never failed the cheer him up. He picked it up and tuned it absentmindedly. Once he was sure it was in tune, he began to play.

“Starry, starry night. Paint your palette blue and grey.” He hummed, strumming at the banjo strings. “Look out on a summer’s day, with eyes that know the darkness in my soul. Shadows on the hills, sketch the trees and the daffodils. Catch the breeze and the winter chills. In colors on the snowy linen land.” He smiled to himself, singing louder. “Now I understand, what you tried to say to me. And how you suffered for your sanity. And how you tried to set them free. They would not listen, they did not know how. Perhaps they’ll listen now.”

His voice drifted out of the office and into the hallways, making everyone stop what they were doing to listen. Sammy hadn’t sung for anyone for a week now. This was a good sign. The singing even reached Susie Campbell, who had just gotten back from the convention. Joey had called her to tell her Sammy was acting weird. She’d been on her way back anyway, and so decided to stop by the studio. She made her way downstairs and paused outside his office.

“Starry, starry night, flaming flowers that brightly blaze. Swirling clouds in violet haze reflect in Vincent’s eyes of china blue. Colors changing hue. Morning fields of amber grain. Weathered faces lined in pain. Are soothed beneath the artist’s loving hand” Sammy sang.

“Now I understand, what you tried to say to me. And how you suffered for your sanity. And how you tried to set them free. They would not listen, they did not know how. Perhaps they’ll listen now.” Susie answered, opening the door. Sammy paused in his song, looking up at her.

“For they could not love you. But still, your love was true. And when no hope was left in sight on that starry, starry night. You took your life, as lovers often do. But I could’ve told you, Vincent. This world was never meant for one as beautiful as you.” Susie continued, walking in to sit beside Sammy. Sammy smiled and the two of them started to sing together. Susie laid her head on Sammy’s shoulder.

“Starry, starry night. Portraits hung in empty halls. Frame-less heads on nameless walls. With eyes that watch the world and can’t forget. Like the strangers that you’ve met. The ragged men in ragged clothes. The silver thorn of bloody rose. Lie crushed and broken on the virgin snow. Now I think I know, what you tried to say to me. And how you suffered for your sanity. And how you tried to set them free. They would not listen, they’re not listening still. Perhaps they never will.”


	54. Friends On The Other Side

So I was inspired by [these](https://metamatronic.tumblr.com/post/167509020919/hi-yes-this-is-a-series-now-apparently-this-is) [posts](https://metamatronic.tumblr.com/post/167509052534/also-this-goodnight-guys), and I wanted to write something for it. 

[Optic Ink AU](https://metamatronic.tumblr.com/tagged/optic-ink-au) belongs to [@metamatronic](https://tmblr.co/mG_ILTJBGnwhICfZV78z28A)

* * *

 

Sammy Lawrence had been serving Susie Campbell for about a year now, and he hated every minute of it. The woman was spoiled, selfish, and downright unpleasant to be around. But, hey, it paid the bills. He did what he had to in order to get by. Moving to a different country had been rough on him, but now they were back in the states. He’d never been to New Orleans before, so this was at least a little bit exciting, even if he had to follow Susie around while she flirted with every man who walked down the street.

“Come on, keep up!” Susie snapped, only barely glancing back at him. “We’ve got stuff to do!”

“Give me a break!” Sammy snapped. “I’m carrying all your luggage myself!”

“Whatever.” Susie flounced her hair. “You’re my valet. You’re  _supposed_  to carry my luggage like this.” Sammy sighed heavily. He hated his job. He hated his job so much. But it paid the bills. All of this was so he could eventually quit and go be a conductor someday. A second later, both Sammy and Susie went crashing into a dark-skinned man in a top hat. The top-hatted man stayed standing, while Sammy and Susie fell to the ground. Sammy was about ready to yell, but the words died in his throat. Oh fuck. This guy was pretty hot.

 

“My lady,” the top hat wearing man flashed them a large grin as he extended his cane to Susie, who used it to hoist herself to her feet. “Enchanté.” He swept off his hat. “A tip of the hat, from Doctor Polk. How y’all doin’?” He withdrew a card from his jacket, handing it to the princess. She grabbed it, eyes raking over the words printed on the card.

“Tarot readings, charms, potions…Dreams made real.” As she read, Norman wrapped an arm around her shoulder, beginning to lead her down a dark alley.

“You comin’?” He looked back at Sammy who, up until this point, had been sitting on the ground in shock.

“Right, uh, of course.” Sammy scrambled to his feet, trying to get together all of Susie’s luggage. By the time he’d gotten it together Norman and Susie were almost at the end of the alley. Sammy muttered some curses under his breath and ran after them, definitely not wishing it was him Norman had his arm around.

“Were I a-bettin’ man,” Norman was saying. “And I’m not, I stay away from games of chance, I’d wager I’m in the company of visiting royalty.” He made a bit show of bowing, replacing his top hat once more. Sammy took a moment to look around. They’d come out into a little courtyard among the buildings, with a dead tree wilting in the middle of it.

“Lawrence, this remarkable gentleman has just read my palm.” Susie said, turning to her exhausted valet. There was a look of unbridled glee, and possibly greed, on her face.

“Or read the newspaper.” Sammy muttered.

“You doubt me?” Norman asked, feigning a hurt look.

“It’s nothing personal.” Sammy said. “It’s just that most of the people I meet who have that pitch usually just want your money.”

“Then allow me to prove my worth.” Norman smiled widely. “You’re in my world now, not your world.” He pointed his cane toward a sign over a doorway, torches bursting into flame to reveal the lettering.

_Doctor Polk’s Voodoo Emporium_

“And I’ve got friends on the other side.” Norman opened the door for them, gesturing them into the store.

“Sit down at my table.” Norman snapped his fingers and a platform was illuminated, with three chairs and a table upon it. It was blatantly obvious which chair was Norman’s, given how much nicer it was than the other two. “Put your mind at ease. If you relax it will enable me to do anything I please.” As he gestured them over, his shadow plucked their hats off their heads, depositing them a few skulls on a cabinet.

“I can read your future, I can change it ‘round some too.” Norman sang, gently pushing them down into their chairs. “I’ll look deep into your heart and soul. You do have a soul, don’t you, Lawrence?” He winked at Sammy, who flushed. “Make your wildest dreams come true.”

“So, what’ve you got?” Sammy asked, trying to reclaim his composure. Norman’s smile widened.

“I got hoodoo, I got voodoo, I got think I ain’t even tried!” He declared, displaying a vast assortment of goods for them before sitting down in his almost throne-like chair. “And I’ve got friends on the other side.”

“Yeah, that’s nice or whatever.” Susie leaned back in her chair and pursed her lips. “But are you going to tell our fortunes?”

“Just take three.” Norman produced a set of cards. “Take a little trip into your future with me.” Sammy and Susie both drew three cards, laying them out in front of themselves. Norman bent over the table, flipping over Susie’s cards first.

“Now you, young lady, are from across the sea. You come from two long lines of royalty.” He said, flipping over the past card. “Your lifestyle’s high, but your funds are low. You need yourself a man who’s got some dough. Mom and Dad cut you off, huh, party girl?”

“You make it sound like I’m irresponsible.” Susie said haughtily.

“Now, y’all gotta get hitched.” Norman said, shuffling the cards and laying them out in front of him. “But hitching ties you down. You just wanna be free, hop from place to place. But freedom takes green.”

“So? I already know that!” Susie snapped, face burning with shame at her own bad decisions. “What do you see in my future?”

“When I look into your future it’s the green that I see.” Norman flipped over the last card, which showed a woman rolling in money. Susie’s eye lit up, and she forgot all about her shame.

“And what about me?” Sammy asked, hoping he’d get as glowing a reading as Susie had.

“On you little man, I don’t wanna waste much time. You been pushed ‘round all your life.” Norman said. “You been pushed ‘round by your mother and your sister and your brothers. And if you was married? You’d be pushed ‘round by your wife.” Sammy deflated at this, sighing heavily. So he was doomed to be someone’s pawn for the rest of his life.

“But in your future, the you  _I_  see,” Norman stood up and walked around to stand behind Sammy’s chair before flipping over the future card. “Is exactly the man you’ve always wanted to be.”

 

“What?” Sammy whispered, snatching up the card. There, on the card, was a picture of him conducting an orchestra. He couldn’t believe his eyes.

“Shake my hand.” Norman held his hands out to both Sammy and Susie. “Come on boys. Won’t you shake a poor sinner’s hand?” Both of them shook Norman’s hand without a second thought. It was then that things got REALLY weird.

“Yeeees!” Norman began to laugh as the shop around them distorted, the shadows rising up and brightly coloured lights replacing the soft glow of the light bulb. Voodoo masks covered the nonexistent walls. Snakes appeared, wrapping themselves around Susie as if they were rope.

“Are you ready?” Norman asked. One of the voodoo masks before him opened its mouth, a small pendant floating out of the green portal in its mouth.

“What is this?!” Susie demanded, struggling against the snakes. “What are you doing?!”

“I’m givin’ you what you want.” Norman passed a hand over his face, a painted skull appearing. Sammy sat transfixed as the doctor pricked Susie’s finger with the pendant, the grooves filling up with blood. This couldn’t be happening. This couldn’t be real.

“I hope you’re satisfied.” Norman grinned. “But if you ain’t, don’t blame me. You can blame my friends on the other side!” Sammy’s confusion quickly turned to horror as he watched what was happening to Susie.

“Now,” Norman wrapped an arm around Sammy’s shoulder. “Let me help you out.” Sammy could only nod. He had a bad feeling about this.


	55. Believe

Based on a quote prompt from [@magicalmonsterhero](https://tmblr.co/mctfDpl6LStDVGfHpM3ZLTA)

Written for [@yunisverse](https://tmblr.co/mRGj3hUquKMYprA0_Sc5RnA) ‘s Rubberhose AU

* * *

When Henry had first arrived back at Joey Drew Studios, he’d played over the conversation he’d have with Joey over and over again in his head. He’d added to the conversation since being turned into a toon. And so, he had a lot he wanted to say to his former friend when he finally met him again.  ****Here he was, outside Joey’s office with the toons behind him.

“Y-You don’t think he’ll be mad, do you?” Boris asked, his whole body literally shaking. 

“Don’t worry what Joey thinks.” Henry said, patting Boris’ back. “He can’t hurt you. Not as long as I’m here.” Even Bendy looked a little scared as Henry opened the door. As soon as the door opened, the toons hid. Joey rose from where he was seated in his chair, beaming at Henry.

“Look at you!” He laughed, slapping his knee. It took everything Henry had not to go over and throttle Joey.

“Hello, Joey,” Henry said coolly.

“Why so cold?” Joey asked, striding over to take Henry’s hand in his.

“Well, first of all, I’m literally a living cartoon,” Henry quickly pulled his hand away. “Second of all, most of our former coworkers are literal ink monsters, and third of all you’re a bastard.” Bendy snorted from outside the room, but Joey didn’t pay any attention to that.

“I’m doing something amazing here, Henry!” Joey said. “You’re proof of that! Look at you!” He laughed, an ink-stained hand clutched to his head. “Sure, the design’s a bit wonky, but you’ve become everything I’ve been trying to achieve! You’re a living, breathing cartoon!”

“Yes. Look at me.” Henry said, completely calm. “Look at what your ink did to me! Look at what it’s done to Sammy and Susie!”

“Some sacrifices have to be made.” Joey shrugged a little, moving back to his desk. “That’s the nature of progress. You know that.”

“You think  _this_  is acceptable?!” Henry gestured at himself and back to the hallway. 

“It’s not ideal, I’ll admit that, but it’s necessary.” Joey said. “I’m going to revolutionize the animation industry! Think of it!” He leaned forward over his desk. “Think of how amazing it would be to have living cartoons!”

“Joey, none of this is worth people’s lives.” Henry took a step forward. “Not to mention, the toons are far from okay! Do you have any idea how #$%&ed up they are? I’ve met veterans with fewer issues than they have!”

“We’ll figure it out.” Joey waved a hand dismissively, going back to whatever plans he’d been looking at before. “I’ll find a way to help them. Now, if you could come over here, I have some plans to show you.”

“No, you won’t.”

“Pardon?” Joey looked up, a dangerous glint in his eyes.

“You won’t find a way to help them,” Henry said. “You’ll avoid actually fixing the problems you’ve created because you don’t want to take responsibility for your actions.” Joey laughed, but there was no mirth behind it.

“Henry, you’re going to want to watch what you’re saying.” He said, that dangerous look never leaving his eyes.

“Or what?” Henry folded his arms. “What are you going to do to me, Joey? You have no allies. No one in this studio wants to help you.”

“And they want to help you?” Joey rose from his seat again, a cruel smile twisting his lips. “You left us. You left all of us. I told them as much. They know you’re nothing but a traitor, Henry. You don’t get to come back and play savior after you left all of us!”

“I don’t want to be a savior,” Henry said, shoulders slumping. “Why does everyone want be to be some kind of hero?”

“Because this is a story. My story.” Joey said. “And if you want a favorable part, you have to be on the right side of history. You can be so much more than a traitor if you’ll just help me. Things can go back to the way they used to be!” For a moment, the man Henry had once known was standing before him, smiling that smile that always got Henry to agree to whatever weird scheme Joey had thought up this time. It was nothing but a lie. All of it had been a lie.

“I’m not letting you spread this, Joey.” Henry shook his head. “You’re not doing this to more people.”

Joey sighed. “That’s a shame. I suppose I’ll just wait for you to go full toon and I’ll use you then. You’ll make an excellent addition to the cast.”

“So you think I’m just going to roll over and let you take advantage of me and everyone else.” Henry deadpanned. He’d forgotten just how incredibly cocky his old friend could be.

“What choice do you have?” Joey asked. “I imagine you’ll be fully toon sooner rather than later, and it’ll be easier to deal with you then. You all like following a set story and if I offer you that, you’ll do whatever I say.”

“So we’re just pawns to you?” Bendy chose that moment to pop out, unable to control himself any longer. “Just something for you to use?”

“You must have used Susie too.” Alice stepped into the room as well, looking less than pleased. Boris didn’t even say anything, just walked in and stood there, disapproving. Henry looked down at Bendy, who gave him a curt nod. The little demon wasn’t going to admit that Henry had been right. He didn’t work like that.

“How…How did you gather them like this?” Joey asked.

Henry smiled, spreading his hands wide. “You were right about one thing, Joey. In the end, all I had to do was believe.”


	56. Chapter 56

**[phoena12](https://phoena12.tumblr.com/) asked: SLEEPY PROMPT REQUESTS FTW!!!!!!!!!!! -sammy takes care of his sleepy acolyte -Bendy and boris snuggles with blankets!!!!!!! -alice makes a botched hot chocolate for henry as he works overnight (it's got like foam everywhere, luke warm that kinda stuff!!!)**

The one with Sammy and Cordelia will be incorporated into my next chapter for The Acolyte. 

* * *

It was the first night that the toons were spending at Henry’s house. Alice had gotten to sleep fairly quickly and managed to stay asleep, but Bendy and Boris were a different matter altogether. Both were haunted by terrible visions when they closed their eyes. So they huddled together in the corner of the room, wrapped in blankets and crying. After a little while, Alice woke up.

“What’s wrong?” She asked, crawling over to them from the bed.

“Bad dreams,” Bendy said. He just sounded so tired. Alice’s brow furrowed. She got some more blankets from the hall closet, noticing that Henry’s light was still on. Once she took care of Bendy and Boris, she promised herself she’d go check on Henry. She went back with the blankets, wrapping them around the shoulders of her fellow toons.

“It’s going to be alright.” She said.

“But why won’t it stop?” Boris asked, big fat tears rolling down his furry cheeks. “Why can’t I stop remembering?” Alice’s mouth twisted. She knew the kinds of memories Boris was referring to. She’d been the one responsible for some of those memories. When she’d still been that…monster.

“I’m so sorry.” She said.

“‘S not your fault,” Bendy said, offering a tired smile. “That wasn’t you, Angel. That person was never you.”

“Oh no.” Boris’ lower lip quivered. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you feel bad. I’m so sorry Alice, I-”

“It’s okay,” Alice assured him, pulling the blankets tighter around her friends. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“We all did things we weren’t proud of in there,” Bendy said. “Except for Boris. You’re a good boy, Boris.” Boris’ tail began to wag a little.

“You really think so?” He asked.

“We know so.” Alice laughed and scratched his ears. “You are a good boy.” Then she stood up, brushing off her dress. “You two should get some sleep. I’m going to go check on Henry.”

“Go on. Make sure he’s not workin’ himself to death.” Bendy waved a hand dismissively, trying to stifle a yawn. Alice kissed their heads and left. Bendy could already feel his eyelids beginning to droop. The warmth from the blankets and from Boris was starting to put him to sleep. The little demon snuggled up to his friend, taking comfort in how soft Boris’ fur was.

“Alice sure is nice, huh?” Boris leaned his head on Bendy’s.

“Eh, she’s alright.” Bendy pulled the blankets a bit tighter. “You know who’s great?”

“Who?”

“You.”

“Aw, shucks.” Boris laughed. “You really are my best friend, Bendy.” Bendy nodded but felt guilt gnawing at his insides. He could still hear the voice of Joey Drew in the back of his mind. But he wasn’t Joey Drew. Not anymore. That person was gone. He was Bendy the Dancing Demon. He was Boris’ best friend, Alice’s rival, Henry’s creation. He wasn’t going to hurt anyone ever again. He wasn’t Joey Drew, he reminded himself. He was alright. He felt his eyes beginning to close. Boris was already snoring beside him. Bendy smiled to himself. Everything would be okay.

Meanwhile, Alice was making Henry some hot chocolate. She’d checked and he was still working. She couldn’t help but shake her head and click her tongue in disapproval. Henry was lucky his wife was out of town at the moment or he’d be getting chewed out twice. Honestly, that man, always working. Was she supposed to put in that much syrup? She paused in her hot chocolate mission. She’d seen Henry do this a million times. He always made them hot chocolate when they were upset or stressed. Oh well. She was sure it would be fine. She popped it in the microwave, pressing the buttons for 30 seconds. Once that was finished, she dutifully trotted up to Henry’s office.

“You shouldn’t be working this later, you know.” She said.

“You sound like Linda.” Henry laughed half-heartedly.

“You’re lucky she’s not here or she’d be saying the same.” Alice set the cup of hot chocolate down on Henry’s desk.

“What’s this?” He asked, looking down at the cup.

“Hot chocolate,” Alice said, sounding almost proud. “I made it all by myself.” To be honest, it looked like something a child would make. It was lukewarm, the foam was dripping onto the desk, and he could see bits of chocolate floating on the surface.

“Thanks.” He took a sip. It didn’t taste half bad. “Shouldn’t you be in bed?”

“I was. But Bendy and Boris had a nightmare so I got up to calm them down.”

“They’re still having nightmares?” Henry’s brow furrowed. “Geez. I wish there was something I could do.”

“You’re doing everything you can,” Alice said. “You’ve done so much for us already. There’s really no need to push yourself.” Henry looked down at her, smiling softly. They really were like children. Even if they had the souls of his coworkers, they were so young. They hadn’t fully experienced the world. They didn’t deserve this. He ruffled her hair out of habit, displacing her halo a bit.

“You should really get back to bed.” He said.

“Not until you do too.” Alice screwed her face up in a comical pout. “You need to rest too, mister!”

“Alright alright.” Henry couldn’t help but smile as he put his hands up in defeat. “I’ll finish up in the morning.”

“And finish your hot chocolate,” Alice said. “I worked hard on it.”

“I will.” Henry shooed her out. Satisfied, Alice returned to bed. Henry returned his attention to the shot he’d been drawing. He’d been stuck on the same one for nearly an hour now. He really needed to get some rest. He finished the hot chocolate and deposited the empty mug in the kitchen before heading to bed. He’d probably have a very eventful morning.


	57. Chapter 57

**[lynadrity-deactivated20180822](https://lynadrity-deactivated20180822.tumblr.com/) asked: -prompt (is this how I do this?? Im sorry if it isnt) maybe a little thing on where Shawn and wally are dating and Sammy gets really mad with wally over losing his keys but Sammy goes over the top with it and shawn comes in on it**

Shawn whistled to himself as he left the toy department. It was Friday and he and Wally had a date night. Shawn was looking forward to the night. They had a reservation at a nice restaurant, they were going to see a play. It would be nice. But as he ascended the stairs, he heard the telltale sound of Sammy chewing someone out. Wally to be specific.

“Oh, hell no,” Shawn growled. He was not going to dinner with an unhappy boyfriend. So he stormed up to Sammy’s office and slammed the door open. Sammy paused mid-yell. Wally had his shoulders hunched, avoiding looking at the music director.

“What’re you doing?!” Shawn demanded.

“He lost his keys. Again.” Sammy said. “So I’m telling him off. Why…Why did you slam the door open?”

“Not tonight you’re not!” Shawn strode forward, jabbing a finger into Sammy’s chest. “Tonight is date night! It is one of the few nights where I get to be with my boyfriend when we’re not at this god awful studio! You are not going to ruin this night for us!”

“But-”

“No buts!”

Sammy could only stare dumbfounded as Shawn dragged Wally out. Well, if there was anyone who could match the music director in terms of fire, it was certainly the Irish toymaker.

“You didn’t have to do that,” Wally mumbled, trying to hide the red seeping into his face.

“Yes, I did,” Shawn said. “No one ruins date night. No one.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too. We’ll get you a better key ring later, alright?”

“Okay.”


	58. Chapter 58

**[lynadrity-deactivated20180822](https://lynadrity-deactivated20180822.tumblr.com/) asked: :0 i wish you would write some shally (Shawn xwally) fluff like them cuddling**

Yeah, I can do that. Prepare for a ton of fluff!

* * *

 

Shawn had been painting a Bendy doll when Wally had slammed the door to his workroom open. The toymaker ended up jumping and smudging the Bendy smile.

“Jesus Mary and Joseph, what are you doing?!” He demanded, tucking his paintbrush behind his ear and whirling to face Wally.

“Sammy dumped me in a trash can,” Wally said. He had trash all over his clothing and looked rather like a petulant child with his pout. Immediately, Shawn’s whole demeanor softened. He put his paintbrush down and walked over to hug Wally.

“Aw, c’mere.” He said, stroking the smaller man’s hair.

“I smell like garbage,” Wally said.

“Yes, you do.” Shawn patted his back. “We’ll take a shower later.”

“Sexy shower?”

“You nearly concussed yourself the last time we tried that, so no.”

Wally made a whining sound, burrowing into Shawn’s chest.

“We can go cuddle with the Bendy plushes, okay?” Shawn pulled back a little, brushing Wally’s hair out of his face. “That’ll make you feel better, right?” Wally nodded. Shawn kissed his head and the two headed to cuddle on top of a giant Boris plush.

“I wonder if we’ll have to wash this later,” Shawn said as they arranged themselves on top of the plush.

“Don’t know. Don’t care.” Wally immediately latched back onto Shawn, tucking his head in the space between Shawn’s chin and his collar. Shawn laughed and kissed Wally’s head again.

“What did you do to make Sammy dump you in a trash can, anyway?”

Wally’s eyes shifted away from Shawn as he began to sweat a little. “Nothing…”

“Come on, it couldn’t have been that bad.”

“….It was kinda bad.” Wally admitted.

“You didn’t touch his radio did you?” Shawn was trying very hard not to start laughing. Wally started sweating even more. Shawn snorted.

“What did you do to his radio?” He asked, starting to laugh uncontrollably.

“…Bendy and I stole his radio.”

“No wonder he dumped you in the trash!”

“It’s not funny!” Wally whined, slapping Shawn’s chest. “I smell like trash!”

“I know. And I’m sorry.” Shawn patted his head. “But you kind of deserved it.”

“You are the worst. Literally, the worst.”

“You love me.”

“I do and I hate it.”


	59. Chapter 59

**[dreamnoteprincess](https://dreamnoteprincess.tumblr.com/) asked: I wish you would write a fic with the Samsie twins from ask-joeydrewstudios.**

Sorry this is short, but here’s Stanley and Stephen Lawrence Campbell from [@ask-joeydrewstudios](https://tmblr.co/mEKj2fvdY3Z3PdYpAcyK9pw)

* * *

 

Every day seemed to be bring your child to work day when it came to the Lawrence-Campbell children. Stephen and Stanley spent a lot of time at the studio, generally following their parents around, playing with the toons, or bothering the other employees. Stanley liked hanging out with the writers, always absorbed in writing some kind of story. Stephen hung out in the music department, helping his father and conducting the band on occasion. Joey didn’t mind having them around. They were very mature children who didn’t cause a lot of trouble. Well, most of the time.

“Stop giggling, kid! You’re gonna give us away!” Bendy hissed to Stephen.

“Sorry sorry.” Stephen tried to stop giggling, but it was really hard. This was just so exciting! He’d never pranked someone before. His father had always told him not to, not to mention Stanley never wanted to do fun stuff like this. When Bendy had approached him that morning, asking if he wanted to prank everyone’s favorite punching bag Wally, the boy had been ecstatic. It was like a rite of passage for him. If he did this, he’d truly be accepted into the studio. Stephen knew that someday he’d be the one to take over his father’s position, so he needed to start making friends now.

“Ssh! Here he comes!” Both Bendy and Stephen fell silent, huddling around the corner. For this prank, they were going with an oldy but a goody. A banana peel and a cream pie to the face. As the footsteps grew closer, Bendy peeled the banana and handed Stephen the pie.

“Let’s do this, kiddo.” He gave the boy a giant grin, then threw the banana peel. Their victim slipped, falling to the floor as Stephen threw the pie in their face.

“STEPHEN LAWRENCE CAMPBELL!”

“Oh shit.” Stephen stumbled back. As it turned out, their victim hadn’t in fact been Wally. Instead, they’d just pranked Sammy.

“Let’s scram!” Bendy and Stephen sprinted out of the music department and up through the animation department. Stanley just sighed as he watched his brother streak by. Why did his brother have to be such a troublemaker?


	60. Chapter 60

A quote prompt from [@phoena12](https://tmblr.co/m4zzgIg40wGyqWrbVCrWeVw)

“I have asked for nothing, and I’ve served you for years. But if you try and stop me now, by hell and my soul, no god will save you. They won’t even try" 

* * *

Henry was a patient man. He took all the shit the world gave him and churned out art. Life was too short to get angry over every little thing that went wrong, after all. He’d tolerated Joey’s eccentricities, done whatever the man asked of it, because they were friends, right? He convinced himself that things would get better eventually. Eventually, Joey would start pulling his weight. Eventually, Henry wouldn’t feel used. Years passed and nothing changed. Henry did all the work and Joey took all the credit. Years of drawing until his wrist cramped. Years of sleeping at his desk. Years of never seeing his wife’s face. There came a time when even the most patient man would snap. And when Henry reached that point, boy did he snap.

His breaking point came after Joey had neglected to inform him of yet another deadline, on a day when they were understaffed and Henry was already suffering from a cramp in his wrist. Henry was practically trembling with anger as Joey spoke.

“Joey, you can’t be serious,” Henry said. “Half the studio is out sick and I’m already at risk of damaging my wrist permanently!”

“I’m sure you’ll be able to manage it,” Joey said with a wave of his hand. “You always do!” 

“Joey-”

“Don’t you have work to do?” Joey cut him off before he could go on a tirade.

Henry could only stare as Joey turned away, already moving on to things he considered more worthy of his attention. Suddenly, a strange calm came over Henry.

“I quit.” He said. Joey looked up from the paperwork he’d gotten out.

“Pardon me?” He asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I said, I quit.” Henry slammed his hands down on Joey’s desk.

“You can’t quit!” Joey’s brows furrowed. “I need you!”

“I have served you for years, and I’ve asked for nothing.” Henry leaned in close enough that their noses touched. “But if you try and stop me now, by Hell and my soul, no god will save you. They won’t even try.” Then he stood up, straightened his tie, and left the office. Joey stared after him in stunned silence. Soon, though, the stunned silence passed, and a dark cloud formed over the head of Joey Drew. So that was how it was going to be. Henry could run, but he’d never be able to escape this studio. He would be a part of Joey’s plans, whether he liked it or not.


	61. Chapter 61

**[phoena12](https://phoena12.tumblr.com/) asked: MORE WONDERFUL PROMPTS INBOUND! -"please don't look in this drawer,please" -"I'm sorry, my cell phone data coverage does not,cover the bullshit zone your in" -"we have to change our names and run away to Mexico. It's the only way. Adios" -"I have asked for nothing, and I've served you for years. But if you try and stop me now, by hell and my soul, no god will save you. They won't even try"**

Sorry this took so long. And sorry this is so short. The last prompt will get its own post. 

* * *

 

Bendy was snooping. He knew it was rude, and he knew he wasn’t supposed to be doing it, but he was a mischievous demon. He hadn’t told Alice or Boris that he was doing this, knowing they’d try to stop him. So here he was, in Sammy’s office, snooping through his drawers. For the most part, there wasn’t anything interesting in the drawers. Some cigarettes, a lot of loose sheet music, spare pens. Then he got to a locked drawer. Bendy frowned. Why was Sammy’s drawer locked?

“Well, if it’s worth locking up, it has to be interesting.” Bendy grinned to himself, shifting his fingers into lock picks and getting to work.

“Please don’t look in that drawer, please.” Bendy froze at hearing Sammy’s voice. He turned around slowly to see the music director standing in the doorway. He looked tired.

“S-Sammy, I-”

“No excuses,” Sammy said. “Just, please leave.” The little demon nodded and scrambled out of the room. Sammy walked over and sat down at his desk. He took out a key from his pocket, unlocking the drawer. Inside was a series of letters and pictures. Sammy withdrew a framed picture and smiled softly.

“Hey, Dad.” He said, putting the picture on his desk. Three years and it still hurt as much as the day he’d first learned of his father’s passing. He wiped some dust off the glass, then put it back in the drawer, making sure to lock it. That was when Joey burst in, a smile on his face and a dark magic book in his hand.

“Sammy!” He boomed. “I’ve just had a wonderful idea.” Sammy internally groaned.

“And what is it this time?” He asked. The music director was only half listening as Joey relayed the whole plan to him. It involved more blood sacrifices and all that good good stuff.

“So, what do you think?” Joey asked when he was finished.

“I’m sorry, my cell phone data coverage doesn’t cover the bullshit zone you’re in,” Sammy said coolly.

“So that’s a no?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh well.” Joey shrugged. “I’ll go ask someone else.”

Meanwhile, Bendy was scrambling to collect all his belongings into one tiny suitcase. Alice and Boris watched, clearly very confused as to why this was happening.

“Bendy, what’s going on?” Alice asked.

“We have to change our names and run away to Mexico. It’s the only way. Adios.” Bendy pulled a sombrero and fake mustache out of hammerspace, tipping the sombrero and preparing to flee in a dust cloud. Boris caught his friend’s shoulder.

“Bendy, are you okay?” He asked. “Why do you have to go to Mexico?”

“Sammy caught me snooping around that drawer he always keeps locked,” Bendy said, his mustache beginning to fall off. “I’m a dead man, Boris. He’s gonna kill me!” Alice tried very hard not to start laughing.

“It’s not funny!” Bendy insisted. “I’m gonna die!”

“He’s not going to kill you, you big baby.” Alice laughed. “If he were going to do that, he would have already done it.”

“You…You really think so?”

“Plus, Joey would get real mad if Sammy killed you.” Boris pointed out. “So I’m sure it’s okay!” Bendy nodded, slowly disassembling his pack. It was going to be okay. Until the next time he pissed off Sammy, that was.


	62. Chapter 62

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tw: Gore

A request by [@liliflower137](https://tmblr.co/m6IUUxKDNGCvV8dmwLG96Vg) for a story in [@star-going-supernova](https://tmblr.co/mYTa7uLD_RYRqcqb13rGJtQ)‘s   
[The Sinners And The Saints AU](https://star-going-supernova.tumblr.com/tagged/the-Sinners-and-the-Saints-AU)

* * *

 

Bendy had always been ambitious. It was something Alice both hated and admired about her brother. Bendy’s ambition had propelled their studio into the big leagues, made them household names. But it had also created this thing. This Crimson Machine. Bendy had said he wanted to bring his creations to life. He wanted them to live. What he’d created, though…It wasn’t living. It was alive, yes, but the thing that stood before the three toons was so far from a living being. It stared down at them, its chest burst open to reveal its insides. Ribs poked out at random angles, blood dripping onto the floor from the exposed bones. It gasped for breath, arms hanging limply at its sides. Its clothing was ripped and torn, a poor facsimile of the sharp dresser its inspiration was supposed to be.

“What is that?!” Alice recoiled in horror.

“It’s…It’s Sammy.” Bendy gave her a shaky smile. “Can’t you see? I did it. He’s alive.”

“That thing isn’t Sammy,” Boris whispered, backing up as well.

“Hurts…” The thing that looked like Sammy said, taking an unsteady step forward. The toons could hear his bones grinding against one another as he shambled forward. He was too skinny, the flesh stretched thin over the bone.

“It’s okay.” Bendy stepped forward, raising his hands up.

“Why…Why does it hurt?” Sammy asked, hands going to his chest cavity. “What did you do to me?!”

“Bendy, you can’t keep it alive,” Boris said. “It’s in pain.”

“I’m not an it!” Sammy yelled.

“Hey, calm down, buddy,” Bendy said. “I know you’re not an it. We all do. We’ll fix you, I promise.”

“You…Promise?” Sammy said, his voice coming out softer than expected.

“I promise,” Bendy repeated. “Why don’t you stay here while we talk this out?” Sammy nodded, managing to sit himself down as the toons left the room. Once they got into Bendy’s office, the little devil deflated.

“Geez. That was a disaster.” He groaned.

“We have to put it out of its misery,” Alice said, beginning to pace the room. “That’s not Sammy. That thing isn’t Sammy!”

“Maybe…Maybe if I try again I can do it right.” Bendy murmured. “I can figure out how to fix him.”

“That’s a bad idea and you know it,” Boris said.

“I can fix him. I know I can.” Bendy said with a big grin. “I can make it right!”

The next few summonings went about as well as Sammy’s had. Susie’s summoning resulted in a deformed face, Norman had a projector for a head, Wally had no eyes. Each summoning was worse than the last. Eventually, Bendy just banished them all to the basement. As expected, this didn’t go over well with the summoned humans. They began to whisper to one another, began to plan their revenge. And then Joey was summoned. He knew how to fix things, or so he said. He promised them revenge. He promised they’d get back at the creators for bringing them into this world and abandoning them. Bendy had no idea what he’d unleashed.


	63. Chapter 63

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tw: Death

**[randomwriteronline](https://randomwriteronline.tumblr.com/) asked: if it's not too troublesome could you do another sammy x wally fanfiction, please? with ink!sammy trying to kill wally to keep him from getting inked as well...**

It’s not troublesome, don’t worry. :D

* * *

_He could hear someone moving on the upper levels of the studio. He moved through the walls to get a glimpse of the new visitor. Whoever they were, they would make a good sacrifice for his lord. The visitor thundered through the hallways with little regard for what was around him. How uncouth. The Prophet peered out through a puddle and nearly gasped at what he saw._

Wally turned around quickly at the gentle gasp. 

“W-Who’s there?” He stammered. No one answered him. He grumbled to himself. What had he expected? The place was obviously abandoned. He’d just thought…He pulled out the letter he’d been sent. 

_Dear Wally,_

_I’m sorry I’ve been out of contact for so long. I’m in the studio. Joey called me back. He’s done something amazing. You’re going to want to see this._

_Love,_

_Sammy_

He should have known this was some kind of joke. Sammy had been missing for nearly ten years now and no one had heard from Joey for double that time. Obviously, someone had thought it would be funny to send him on a while goose chase after his lost boyfriend. 

“Shoulda fuckin’ known it was too good to be true.” Wally shoved the letter back into his pocket, turning to go back to the car. There was someone standing between him and the door. The creature was humanoid in shape but looked to be made of ink. It wore ratty overalls and a beaten Bendy mask. 

“Heeeey,” Wally said slowly. “How’s…How’s it goin’?”

“Wally, what are you doing here?” The creature asked. 

“Wait, Sammy?” Wally’s eyes widened.  _This_  was where Sammy had been all this time? God, Joey had probably done this to him.

“You shouldn’t be here.” The thing that might have been Sammy said. “It’s dangerous.”

“What happened to you?” Wally moved closer, trying to take Sammy’s hand. Sammy jerked away, his mask sliding down. Wally could almost make out features on Sammy’s face. 

“Have you been here this whole time?” Wally asked, hands hanging limply at his sides. 

“You’re going to get hurt,” Sammy muttered, wringing his hands. “I can’t let you become like me.” That was when he pulled out an ax. 

“SAMMY!” Wally jumped back as his boyfriend swung the ax down towards him. “JESUS CHRIST! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!”

“I have to protect you!” Sammy yelled. “You can’t become like me!”

“I don’t even know what you  _are_!” Wally yelled back, desperately trying to dodge Sammy’s swings. “Please! Let’s talk about this!”

“You don’t understand! I have to do this!”

“I DON’T UNDERSTAND! HELP ME UNDERSTAND!” 

Wally kept scrambling back as Sammy swung. This was definitely not how Wally had imagined his reunion with his boyfriend going. He’d thought Sammy would stumble home one day and they would embrace. He hadn’t thought an ax would be involved. Eventually, he hit a wall. Sammy was closing in and he was still swinging. Wally tried to move, but he found his body frozen in place. He was going to die. He was going to be murdered by his boyfriend. 

“Sammy, please.” He whimpered. “I don’t want to die.” Sammy paused in front of Wally, the ax held high above his head. 

“I’m sorry.” He said. “I can’t let you become like me. You can’t suffer the way I have.” Then the ax fell. 


	64. Arachnophobia

A request from [@inkavixentheinkdemon](https://tmblr.co/mDHBAtJxXBlFgtT2vAIGPBw) , to make up for what a bad job I did earlier. ^^”

* * *

 

Sammy had discovered a secret about Bendy. When they’d been rehearsing a song, a spider had crawled down from the ceiling. Sammy hadn’t expected much to come of that. After all, they had a literal spider toon walking around. But Bendy had shrieked and scrambled back, trying to put as much distance between him and the spider as possible.

“Relax, it’s just a spider,” Sammy said, balling up the newspaper and swatting the insect.

“Is…Is it dead?” Bendy asked, still in the corner.

“Yeah, it’s dead,” Sammy said.

“I hate spiders,” Bendy muttered, going back to his seat. “They’re the worst.” Immediately, an idea began to form in Sammy’s mind.

For the next few weeks, whenever Bendy pranked him, the music director would calmly retort by placing plastic spiders in places he knew Bendy would be going. It was mostly harmless, just giving the little demon a scare whenever he found one of the little plastic creatures. However, Bendy escalated his pranks in retaliation.

“How dare Sammy exploit my fear like this?!” He’d said to Boris upon discovering the plastic spiders. “He’s gonna pay for this! Mark my words!”

“Ben, are you sure that’s a good idea?” Boris asked, throwing the plastic spiders in the trash. “Sammy might escalate things.” But Bendy was already planning out his revenge. As expected, Sammy did indeed escalate things. Life-sized spiders, animatronic spiders, even real spiders on occasion. Once or twice he got Edgar in on the whole thing. Honestly, the whole thing was getting a bit out of hand. The other arachnophobes in the studio were getting increasingly uncomfortable. Which caused Joey to bring them both into his office for a…special meeting.

“He started it!” Both Bendy and Sammy immediately said, pointing to one another. Joey sighed heavily, massaging his temples.

“I don’t care who started it.” He said in the voice of a tired parent. “What I care about is ending it. Sammy, you’re making many members of the studio uncomfortable with the number of spiders you’re bringing in. Bendy, you’re provoking him.”

“I am not!” Bendy said. “I’m just having fun!”

“Ben, you’re already grounded for this,” Joey said. “Don’t make your punishment any worse.” Sammy began to smirk at the little demon, but Joey stopped him.

“You’re in trouble too, Sammy.” Joey continued. “HR has been up my ass about your little spider pranks ever since they started.”

“Fine.” Sammy slumped back in his chair. He could understand why this was being done, but he didn’t like it. Both Bendy and Sammy were sent away, each both upset and resigned to their situation. Bendy laid off his pranking, and Sammy stopped pranking Bendy with spiders. Most of the time.


	65. Chapter 65

**[phoena12](https://phoena12.tumblr.com/) asked: Guess whose back with more prompts! -" what did they do to you?" "It's awesome, isn't it?" "You look..." "I KNOW" they didn't really find it quite that gleeful a thing. - that stupid grin on his face is almost enough reason to hit him - "how much do you trust my ability to bullshit?"**

So we’ve got a lotta angst, and then a little humour. 

* * *

 

Sammy wasn’t sure why he was going back to the studio. Oh yes, that was right, Susie was there. He’d gotten a letter from her, asking him to come to the studio. It had been years since Susie had gone missing. She couldn’t possibly be in the studio…Right? The studio had been abandoned for years. The last time Sammy had tried to go there to demand answers from Joey, the floor in front of the door had collapsed. He’d left, of course, but maybe he shouldn’t have. Maybe he could have found Susie. Well, he was back now. He muscled the door open, stopping just short of the gaping hole in front of the door.

“I was never good at long jump.” He muttered. He took a deep breath and jumped. He landed hard on the other side, stumbling and crashing into a support beam. He cradled his nose, spitting out a bevvy of curses. Okay, so that was not how he’d wanted this to go. Once he’d managed to get himself together, he made his way down to the music department. The elevator shaft was busted so he had to pry some boards off the stairwell. If Susie was anywhere, she’d definitely be in the music department. He descended the stairs, jumping at every creak of every board and drip of ink. He could have sworn he heard something moving around. When he got to the music department, he was greeted with a woman’s voice, singing a familiar tune.

“Susie?” He whispered before raising his voice. “Susie!” The singing abruptly stopped.

“Susie!” He yelled again, running to the band room. Sure enough, a woman stood in the band room, but it didn’t look like Susie. The woman before him looked like a real-life version of Alice Angel. She dropped ink from her hair and arms, but other than that she was a perfect recreation.

“Sammy!” The woman’s face lit up. “It’s so good to see you!” She ran over and wrapped her arms around him. Sammy just stood there, his mouth open and eyes wide.

“Are you alright?” The woman asked, pulling back. “You didn’t hug me back.”

“Are you…Are you Susie?” He asked slowly.

“Of course I am, silly!” She tapped his nose.

“What did they do to you?” He asked. Susie had been a small woman, rather stocky and with short hair. The woman before him was tall and slender, with long dark hair and an hourglass figure.

“It’s awesome, isn’t it?” Susie put her hands on her hips. He’d known she was self-conscious about her body, but he hadn’t thought she’d do something like this. He’d tried to show her how beautiful he thought she was. He wanted her to see herself the same way he did.

“You look…” He began, but couldn’t find any way to finish that sentence.

“I know!” Susie giggled and did a twirl. Sammy didn’t really find it that gleeful a thing. But…she did seem happy with it.

“Is Joey here?” He asked, changing the subject. “I’d like to talk to him.”

“Oh, sure!” Susie nodded, taking his hand. “He’s in his office!” Sammy followed her up the stairs to where Joey was.

“Did you come back for me?” She asked as they walked.

“Of course.” He said. “You sent me a letter, didn’t you?”

“Oh, Joey probably did that. I have been saying I wanted you to come back.” Susie said, glancing back at him with a shy smile.

“Joey…Joey sent the letter under your name?” Sammy frowned. “If you wanted me to come back, you should have just sent a letter yourself.”

“Joey doesn’t let us do that.”

“Joey…doesn’t let you do that,” Sammy repeated. Okay, now he was starting to get suspicious. Maybe Susie didn’t want this in the first place. She certainly wasn’t acting like the Susie he knew and loved. They got to Joey’s office and Susie knocked quickly on the door.

“Who is it?” Joey’s voice came from within.

“It’s Alice~,” Susie said. “Guess who showed up?”

“Is it Sammy?”

“Yes, sir!”

“Bring him in!”

Susie grinned back at Sammy and threw the door open, dragging him in. Joey sat at his desk and real versions of Bendy the Dancing Demon and Boris the Wolf sat on the chairs in front of him. Joey looked different as well. He looked like a toon version of himself, young as the day he’d hired Sammy. That stupid grin on his face was almost reason enough to hit him.

“Sammy! It’s so good to see you!” Joey stood up, crossing the room to shake Sammy’s hand. The former music director’s other hand was occupied by Susie.

“It’s…It’s good to see you too.” Sammy said slowly.

“I see you’ve already met Alice.” Joey nodded appreciatively towards Susie, who was clinging to Sammy like a lovestruck teenager. “But let me introduce you to Boris and Bendy!”

“Heya Sammy!” Boris waved.

“How’s it goin’, buddy?” Bendy tipped an invisible hat.

“How did you do all this?” Sammy asked, gesturing around weakly. He was terrified. All of this made his knees weak, and not in a good way. He felt like crying.

“With the ink machine, of course!” Joey said. “I finally got it to work! Look at what I’ve accomplished!” Sammy wasn’t sure if his former boss could see the fear in his eyes. He sure hoped not. If he showed any sign of not wanting whatever Joey was going to offer, he was sure Joey would force him into it.

“I’m sensing you’re going to try and sell me on something.” Sammy forced himself to laugh and smile.

“You always were a perceptive one.” Joey slapped his back. “I want to offer you a place here. I want to offer you immortality! You can be like me!”

“Be like…you,” Sammy repeated. He had to admit, being offered immortality was tempting. He could be with Susie forever. They would never have to worry about growing old or getting sick…But there had to be downsides. There were always downsides. Joey’s ideas always cost someone something. Not to mention, Joey was a manipulative and controlling person. There was a reason he’d left.

“Come on, what do you say?” Joey asked, slinging an arm over Sammy’s shoulder. “I’m trying to get everyone back so we can start the studio again. We could be big again! Our names could go down in history! You could keep writing songs! Didn’t you like writing songs for me?”

“I…I did.” Sammy admitted. He’d enjoyed his career at Joey Drew Studios. He hadn’t always gotten along with his coworkers, but he’d found the best friends he could ever ask for in this place. He’d met Susie here.

“Please say yes,” Susie said, pressing herself closer. “I’ve missed you so much!” He’d missed her too. He’d missed this place. He’d missed Norman and Shawn and Henry and Thomas, hell even Wally! He wanted to go back to that part of his life. He found himself opening his mouth to say yes, but he stopped himself. He couldn’t trust Joey. Not after what had happened with Henry.

“I’m sorry, Joey,” Sammy said, hanging his head. “I…I can’t.”

“Why not?” Joey asked. “Don’t you want to live forever? Don’t you want to be with Susie?” He was still smiling, but Sammy could see that look in his eyes. The look in his eyes that meant he was about to do something the other person wasn’t going to like.

“Not like this,” Sammy replied. “You’re manipulative and controlling, Joey. If I said yes, I’d never be able to be myself again. I’d just be whatever you wanted me to be.”

“Well, that’s too bad.” Joey sighed. “I’d hoped you’d come willingly.” Sammy’s shoulders slumped as inky blotches began to appear all over the room, the atmosphere darkening.

“Please, don’t do this!” Susie said, clinging tighter to Sammy. “I can convince him! I know I can!”

“Susie, it’s okay.” Sammy smiled tiredly at Susie. “This was how it was going to end, no matter what.” Joey shoved Susie away from Sammy, hoisting Sammy up by his collar. Bendy and Boris had been silent this whole time, unsure what to say.

“He’ll be alright,” Bendy said. “He’ll be a lot happier once he’s like us. Just like it was like with you.”

“Joey wouldn’t hurt him.” Boris forced a smile. “It’ll be alright.” Susie just nodded, wringing her hands. This was the way it was, she told herself. Joey would never hurt anyone. He would never lie…Right?

.

.

Joey and Henry had gotten into a lot of shenanigans when they’d first met. They’d been two kids, both creative and both rather cheeky, honestly. Joey was an especially mischievous young man. He liked playing pranks, he liked getting in trouble. Henry got dragged into it more often than not, but he wasn’t exactly a neutral party. He liked getting in trouble too when he was young. Their names went down in infamy in their college for the number of pranks they’d played. But only one of them had cemented their names in legend. The great Bendy flash mob of senior year.

Their last week of senior year, Joey decided that it would be fun to organize a flash mob of people wearing Bendy masks on graduation day. It wouldn’t hurt anyone and he was sure it would be funny as Hell. Henry had been all in. So, on graduation day, as the teachers were calling out the names, a flood of lowerclassmen wearing Bendy masks and bowties flooded the auditorium. It had taken everything Joey and Henry had not to burst out laughing. The teachers immediately looked at Joey and Henry, giving them a look that said they were going to have a  _talk_.

“How much do you trust my ability to bullshit?” Joey whispered.

“Quite a bit,” Henry whispered back.

“Then we’ll be fine.”


	66. Chapter 66

**[phoena12](https://phoena12.tumblr.com/) asked: Some prompts! -Bendy throws a fit when an intern mistakenly brings a croissant into work and eats it in front of bendy -"what if I die?" "Well then I'll practise my revival spells" "I don't like how you said 'practise'" - "may I insert a very sharp object into your body?" "Are you politely saying you want to stab me?"**

These take place in [@ask-joeydrewstudios](https://tmblr.co/mEKj2fvdY3Z3PdYpAcyK9pw) universe

Also, sorry these are so short.

* * *

 

There was an unspoken rule in Joey Drew Studios that you did not eat croissants in front of Bendy. A lot of the interns weren’t sure why, so they’d sneak croissants in anyway. But one day, this backfired. An intern named Jay was eating a croissant in the breakroom when Bendy walked in. They both froze, eyes locking. Bendy’s lower lip began to quiver and he opened his mouth.

“No, hey, buddy-” The intern tried to diffuse the situation, but it was too late.

“YOU MONSTER!” Bendy shrieked. “HOW COULD YOU?!” Almost immediately, half the studio showed up to see what Bendy was yelling about. Joey sighed upon seeing the culprit of the meltdown.

“How many times have I told all of you?” He said. “No croissants. It makes Bendy very upset.” The little demon clung to Joey’s leg, giving the poor intern the dirtiest look he could manage.

“S-Sorry, sir.” The intern stammered out. “It won’t happen again, I swear.”

“It better not,” Bendy said, sticking his tongue out at the intern.

“Now, Ben, he said he was sorry,” Joey said. “In any case, everyone should get back to work. There’s nothing to see here.”

“Yes, sir.” Everyone grumbled and went back to work. Bendy kept watching the intern, refusing to stop glaring at the boy.

“Ben, come on.” Joey picked up the little demon. “Let’s go.”

“No.” Bendy tried to wriggle free. Joey sighed and carried the demon out of the room.

.

.

“This is a bad idea,” Henry said, staring down at the ritual circle Joey had drawn up. “You don’t even know what this does.” His boss had dragged him in here, rather excited, saying he had a new ritual he wanted to test out. The catch? Joey didn’t know what the ritual did. He’d, of course, told Henry it was probably nonlethal, but the point was that Joey didn’t know.

“Nonsense, it’s a wonderful idea!” Joey slapped the younger man’s back. “Besides, it’s not supposed to hurt you.”

“What if I die?” Henry asked, eyeing his boss suspiciously. He didn’t want to think about what would happen if he didn’t make it home. Dianne would be furious for sure.

“Well then, I’ll practice my revival spells,” Joey said as if this was completely normal.

“I don’t like how you said ‘practise’,” Henry said after staring at Joey for a few minutes. “You can guarantee that if this goes wrong, you’ll be able to make sure I’m alright, right?”

“….Yes?” Joey smiled sheepishly. Henry stared at him, then headed for the door.

“Henry, wait, come back! Please, I need to try this on someone!”

.

.

Sammy was in a very bad mood. His office had flooded, again, and Bendy had been playing pranks on him all week. In addition, he’d been dragged into Joey’s office by his boss and placed in the middle of a ritual circle.

“I need to try this out on someone,” Joey said. “I hope you don’t mind.” Sammy took a deep breath, grimacing at his boss.

“May I insert a very sharp object into your body?” He asked.

“Are you politely saying you want to stab me?” Joey asked.

“Yes.” Sammy’s grimace widened, his teeth clenched together. “Now, can I go?” Joey hesitated for a moment before answering, as if weighing whether or not Sammy would actually stab him.

“Yes, please do.” Joey stepped back and let Sammy leave. Well, now he needed to find someone else to test this on. He stuck his head out the door.

“Franks? Could you come in here?”


	67. A Cumbersome And Heavy Body

So, I recently fell in love with [@halfusek](https://tmblr.co/mAf3vdzc4wXYCzWCxKkU7dA) ‘s Joey, specifically because of [this](https://halfusek.tumblr.com/post/169942018009/i-made-an-animatic-to-song-body-by-mother-mother), and I wanted to write something for it. 

* * *

Joey Drew was a broken man. He had been that way for a long time, not that anyone knew about it though. Joey was the kind of person who never gave up no matter what, whether out of determination or sheer spite for the tenuous laws of the universe was unclear. Everyone who worked under him saw him as an unflinchingly positive man who refused to tolerate any negativity nor give up. Even after he’d been diagnosed with polio he’d never stopped. Even after he was so weak he was reduced to a wheelchair and crutches. In reality, Joey was miserable. His body felt like a prison, specifically concocted to torture him. Previously, Joey had been a very animated man, rather like the little Devil Darling himself. Henry did all he could to help his friend, but there was only so much he could conceivably do. He had a job he needed to be doing, after all. So Joey shooed him away. 

“I’ll be fine.” He told Henry.

“Are you sure?” Henry asked. “Because I can stick around if you want me to.”

“No, you have a deadline to finish,” Joey said. “I’ll be fine.” 

“Well, if you’re sure.” Henry hesitated in the doorway. Joey smiled warmly at him. 

“Dreams come true.” He said. “I just need to keep believing.” But dreams didn’t come true, and belief wasn’t going to save the studio. Joey could see the cracks forming long before Henry ever left. He had to admit, he wasn’t the best at running a studio, but goddammit he tried his best. After all, that was all he could do, right? He just needed to try his best. Everything would be okay. 

Then Henry left. That was possibly the most devastating blow to Joey. He’d always had a little bit of a crush on Henry, ever since they first met. But being a man who liked other men was…frowned upon, so Joey kept it to himself. There were so many times when he’d ached to tell Henry about his feelings, but he didn’t dare. He didn’t want Henry to suffer the same way he himself did. So when Henry left for war, he left without ever knowing how Joey felt about him. Things spiraled out of control after that. Everything was just an endless blur of people yelling at him and the smell of ink. 

“I have to make this work.” He muttered to himself as he worked deep into the night. The studio was failing, but he could save it! He knew he could! He just had to make the toons live! That was the only way. Sacrifices would have to be made, of course, but love required sacrifice. Again, Joey’s body thwarted him. He couldn’t carry out his experiments to the best of his ability. His legs always gave out from under him, causing him to slice himself more than once with the scalpel. But he would prevail. He would save his studio. Even if he had to transform himself to do it. 


	68. Chapter 68

**[fizzysquish](https://fizzysquish.tumblr.com/) asked: I like the thought that despite their vastly different personalities, Henry and Joey actually are really good friends. Like they somehow even each other out. And if kinda dumbfounds everyone cause joey acts crazy and then henry comes and just gives him a pat and hey alls good again.(If you have any time or want, this can be a prompt of sorts)**

I’d be glad to write a little thing for that. 

* * *

No one had ever understood how Joey and Henry could be friends. Joey was overly excitable, always rambling on about one thing or another, never stopping, never resting. Henry was a calm and controlled man. He never raised his voice, never got too excited. He was always even and laidback. The two men were as different as different could be. And yet, they were the closest of friends. No one could calm Joey down as quickly as Henry could. Joey would be going off on one of his tangents, scaring everyone in the room, and all Henry had to do was walk up and put a hand on his friend’s shoulder and it was as if nothing had happened. 

“How do you do that?” His coworkers asked him. 

“It’s nothing.” Henry always said with a small smile and a shrug. 

“How are you friends with Joey?” They’d persist. “You two are so different.”

“Opposites attract, I guess.”

The mystery baffled everyone who didn’t know the two men well. Sammy understood why they were friends, though. They balanced one another out. Joey’s manic highs and lows required someone to calm him down, and Henry needed someone to spurn him to action. They worked well together. Joey was full of ideas and Henry translated those ideas onto paper. They brainstormed characters and sketches, and together they built a magical world for people to get lost in. 

It was only when Henry left that everyone saw just how much of an effect he had on their boss. Joey ran hot and cold, spiraling out of control without anyone to even him out or calm him down. He had no one to translate his ideas into actual things, which frustrated him immensely. He had no one to reign him in and in the end, he self-destructed, taking everyone with him.


	69. Chapter 69

**[dreamnoteprincess](https://dreamnoteprincess.tumblr.com/) asked: Rubberhose AU-Could you be happy, here, with me?”**

Written in [@yunisverse](https://tmblr.co/mRGj3hUquKMYprA0_Sc5RnA) ‘s [Rubberhose AU](http://yunisverse.tumblr.com/tagged/rubberhose-au)

* * *

 

They’d gotten out. All of them had gotten out, together. Henry had managed to stabilize the toons and turned himself back into a human. Everything was okay. For the most part, that was. Bendy was still a little shaken up about it, though. He didn’t know how to deal with this new world. Their first night back at Henry’s house, he stayed up long after Alice and Boris had fallen asleep, just staring at the ceiling. Eventually, he went downstairs and looked for some ink to drink. He found Henry there as well, drawing at the kitchen table.

“Hey.” Henry looked up, smiling slightly. “Can’t sleep?” Bendy nodded, trying not to notice the wrinkles on Henry’s face, how the old animator’s hands shook as he drew. He walked over and wriggled onto Henry’s lap, staring down at the paper. Henry had been drawing Bendy, Boris, and Alice. They all looked happy and carefree.

“Why can’t you sleep?” Bendy asked, looking up at him. “You should be happy to be back home, right?”

“I am happy,” Henry said. “But what happened was…Well…It’s going to stick with me, that’s for sure.” He sighed heavily.

“Sorry,” Bendy muttered, shifting a little bit.

“Apology accepted.” Henry gave him a pat on the head. They went silent, just sitting there together. The mental scars they’d gotten from the studio were going to linger for a long time. Bendy felt especially guilty for being such a bastard to Henry since Henry had tried so hard to save them all.

“Could you be happy here, with me?” Henry suddenly asked.

“Excuse me?” Bendy looked back at his creator.

“I want to know if you’ll be happy here,” Henry said. “With me and the kids, I mean.”

“I mean, it’s better than the studio.” Bendy shrugged slightly, drumming his fingers on the table.

“But will you be happy here?”

Bendy paused, considering this question. Would he be happy with Henry? Alice and Boris certainly seemed to be happy in the house. Henry had promised that he’d get them a new show too.

“Yeah…I think I can be happy here.”


	70. Valentine's Day Date

For [@ask-joeydrew-productions](https://tmblr.co/mXK3fzAaPnFEjVSk-rWcFHg) because their art is really cute and I think they deserve some Sammy/Henry. 

Also includes Susie/Allison

* * *

Sammy hadn’t been having an amazing day. Joey was being, well Joey, and had forgotten to mention there was a deadline coming up so they were all working overtime to be able to meet said deadline. Sammy was more than a little disappointed by this since he’d wanted to leave early for a Valentine’s Day date with Henry. They were planning to go to Coney Island since Sammy had never gone before. Now it looked like they weren’t going to be able to go. 

“Buck up,” Susie said, slapping his back. “If you get your work done, I’m sure you two can make it before closing time.”

“You’re just saying that because you already got done,” Sammy muttered, his head on the desk. Susie had finished recording her lines about an hour ago and was planning on heading out with Allison as soon as Allison finished her own lines. 

“Come on, have a little faith.” Susie tried to prop him up. 

“It’s Valentine’s Day. And I have to work.” Sammy deadpanned. “I have no faith left.”

“Geez, what does Henry see in you?” Susie rolled her eyes. “You’re such a downer. I’m just trying to help.”

“I know, I’m sorry.” He ran a hand through his hair. “It’s just…frustrating, you know? I was really looking forward to going out with Henry tonight.”

“You might still be able to,” Susie said. “Just keep at it. I know you can do it.”

“Susie? I’m done.” Allison poked her head into Sammy’s office. “Are you ready to go?”

“Yeah, just a sec, babe.” Susie nodded. Allison disappeared and Susie turned her attention back to Sammy. 

“You can do it.” She repeated before leaving. Sammy nodded to himself. 

“I can do it.” He said. He worked even harder after that and did manage to get his work done by the end of the day. Once he was finished, he ran upstairs and slammed the finished music sheets onto Joey’s desk. 

“IdidmyworkandnowI’mgoingonmydatewithHenryokaybye.” He said before fleeing from the office. Sammy found Henry at his desk, practically asleep on his feet. Well, it looked like Coney Island was out of the question.

“Hey,” Sammy gently shook Henry’s shoulder. “You okay?” Henry sat bolt upright, looking around wildly before relaxing. 

“Oh, hey, Sammy.” He smiled tiredly. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

“You sure? You look like you’re dead on your feet.”

“I’m fine. I’m fine.” Henry got to his feet, stumbling a bit and falling forward onto Sammy’s chest. 

“You’re not fine,” Sammy said. “Look, let’s go back to my place and we can watch some movies and eat popcorn.”

“Are you sure?” Henry looked concerned. “I know you really wanted to go to Coney Island.”

“Spending time with you is the important part,” Sammy said, smiling softly. “And you don’t look up to Coney Island. Now let’s go.” They both put on their coats and took Sammy’s car back to his apartment. Once inside, Henry was tasked with finding a movie to watch while Sammy popped some popcorn. 

“So, what do you feel like watching?” Sammy asked, settling down beside Henry. Henry immediately latched onto him, pointing at the screen. 

“Who Framed Roger Rabbit, huh?” Sammy nodded appreciatively. “Yeah, I can get behind that.” Henry ended up falling asleep about half an hour into the movie, but Sammy didn’t mind, especially since Henry had suctioned himself to Henry’s side. He’d always been a cuddler. Sammy was disappointed they hadn’t gone to Coney Island, but they could go another day. What was important was Henry’s health and wellbeing. Besides, being cuddled was nice. 


	71. Grant's Real!

I decided to give the second request from [@magicalmonsterhero](https://tmblr.co/mctfDpl6LStDVGfHpM3ZLTA) its own post. 

[@ask-joeydrewstudios](https://tmblr.co/mEKj2fvdY3Z3PdYpAcyK9pw) : How did everyone react to Grant being real? 

* * *

None of them had expected Wally to actually be right about Grant Cohen existing. Their surprise only made Grant even more irritated. 

“This is why I don’t leave my office.” He muttered before stalking away to his office. 

“See! I told you he was real!” Wally said when Grant was gone. 

“Well…You were right.” Susie said, trying not to add ‘this time’. She hadn’t expected Grant to be so…ordinary. Hell, he even looked boring. Shawn just sort of stared straight ahead, trying to process what he’d just seen. Grant was real. Wally had been right. What else had the janitor been right about? Wally whooped and ran off to tell everyone else. 

“HE’S REAL!” Wally yelled, slamming the door to Sammy’s office open. Sammy smudged the music sheet he’d been working on and took a deep breath to stop from impaling the pen in Wally’s eye. 

“This better not be about fucking Cohen again,” Sammy said, turning around very slowly.

“It is and he’s real.” Wally grinned. “Susie and Shawn saw him too! So you can’t say I’m crazy!” Sammy grumbled under his breath and headed up to the break room to confirm Wally’s story with Susie.

“Wally was right.” She admitted. “Grant’s real. He threw a book at Wally.” 

“Huh.” Sammy nodded slowly. “Okay. Guess it’s good we actually do have someone handling the finances.” 

“See? I told you!” Wally couldn’t stop smiling. He’d been right and they had to admit it! 

“Why is everyone yelling?” Norman asked, entering the break room. 

“Cohen’s real,” Sammy answered. “Susie and Shawn saw him.”

“I can’t believe Wally was actually right.” Shawn kept staring at the table. “Jesus, what else was he right about?”

“Okay.” Norman shrugged and left the room. When Thomas was told, he just gave Wally a _look_ and asked if he could get back to work. He didn’t care. This dampened Wally’s enthusiasm a bit, but he remained excited. He’d been right! Throughout all of this, Henry continued his work, unaware of the drama going on in the break room.


	72. Joey Is Oblivious

Another story for [@ask-joeydrew-productions](https://tmblr.co/mXK3fzAaPnFEjVSk-rWcFHg) , based on [this ](https://ask-joeydrew-productions.tumblr.com/post/170694729709/batim-au-modernstudents)post. 

Consider it a late birthday present. 

* * *

Henry and Sammy had been dating almost the entire time they’d known one another. Joey, of course, had not realized this in the four years the three of them had known each other. At first, it had been a little awkward. Henry and Sammy had tiptoed around the subject, trying to be as discreet as possible. By this point, they were just trying to see how long it would take for Joey to finally figure it out. They’d even kissed in front of him and he’d just said,

“Oooh! Is it acceptable to kiss friends on the mouth now?” He’d then proceeded to try and kiss Grant on the mouth, which had ended with Joey getting pepper sprayed. Joey’s obliviousness had become almost a running joke in their friend circle. Susie, though, didn’t find it funny. Especially since Joey assumed Sammy and Susie were dating. 

“You need to tell him,” Susie said when she and Allison came over for their double date night. 

“You don’t find it even a little funny?” Sammy asked, leaning back on the couch. Boris and Bendy had taken up residence on his lap and he didn’t want to move for fear of disturbing the babies. 

“He thinks we’re dating!” She gestured angrily between the two of them. “You’re like my brother! It’s weird!”

“He’ll figure out eventually,” Henry assured her, returning with some coffee. The lifeblood of all college students. 

“He did figure out that Thomas is ace recently.” Allison pointed out. 

“Because Thomas told him outright.” Susie pointed out. “Honestly, why is he so bad with people?!” Allison gave her a sympathetic smile and squeezed her hand. 

“Joey just has a hard time with social cues,” Henry said, resting his head on Sammy’s shoulder. “You need to be patient with him.” Susie groaned and leaned over to snuggle Allison. 

“It’s just so frustrating.” She whined. 

“He’ll get it eventually.” Allison kissed her girlfriend’s head. 

“If it makes you feel better, it really bothered Sammy at first too,” Henry said. “He was always so jumpy when we were around Joey. He thought Joey wouldn’t approve.”

“I was 16!” Sammy flushed, trying to cover his face. “I made bad decisions!”

“Like those leather-”

“Not another word, Singer.” Sammy slapped a hand over Henry’s mouth. Part of Henry was tempted to lick Sammy’s hand, but he resisted until his boyfriend took his hand away.

“You know, it’s kind of hot when you use my last name like that.” He said. 

“Leather what?” Susie detached herself from Allison leaning forwards. “Tell me you have pictures, Henry.” Henry smiled mischievously, which made Sammy go even redder. 

“Henry, don’t.” He begged.

“I’ll go get the photo album.” Henry darted up and towards his bedroom. 

“That’s so unfair!” Sammy yelled after him. “I have the babies on my lap!” Bendy bolted at this yelling, but Boris stayed put.

“I have the worst boyfriend ever.” Sammy groaned. 

“Oh hush, Henry is a catch.” Allison swatted at his shoulder. “If I didn’t like girls, I’d probably like him.” Sammy groaned even louder when Henry got back with the album. It had been generously compiled by Norman, who was a family friend of Henry’s. Norman documented everything through photographs or videos. Henry sat down and opened up the album. 

“Oh. My. God.” Susie grinned. “You were such a dorky kid, Sammy!” 

“Kill me now.” Sammy buried his face in Boris’ fur. 

“He really did grow into himself.” Henry looked over at Sammy fondly. “But I think he was handsome even in high school.”

“What’s Joey doing in that picture?” Allison pointed to a picture in the corner. 

“Summoning Satan,” Sammy said. 

“You aren’t even looking at the picture.” Susie gave him a look. 

“Oh, that one?” Henry squinted at the picture. “I think he actually was trying to summon a demon.” The picture had been taken at Joey’s 18th birthday party and depicted Joey wearing face paint and standing above a crudely drawn circle. 

“Either that or we were roleplaying.” Sammy looked up and shrugged. “Joey used to be really into LARPing.”


	73. Smay Is A Little Shit

Based on the drama going on in [@metamatronic](https://tmblr.co/mG_ILTJBGnwhICfZV78z28A)‘s [Optic](https://metamatronic.tumblr.com/post/171354473784/and-immediately-after-humanizing-smay-im-going) [Ink](https://metamatronic.tumblr.com/post/171359820444/this-comic-is-spiraling-out-of-control-and-i-have) [Au](https://metamatronic.tumblr.com/post/171361355024/none-of-this-is-canon-btw).

I waited too long and now it’s no longer relevant. But I’m gonna do it anyway. 

* * *

Sammy was rather surprised when he found a tape with his voice on it that he didn’t remember making. 

“Heyyy~ Sammy~!” His own voice slid out of the tape, smoother than he remembered it being. “I had a little fight with our friend, so I’m going to spill his secret.” Already, Sammy could feel his heart beginning to sink. He wasn’t sure what this strange version of him was talking about, but it had to have something to do with Lensey. He was sure of it. 

“Kind of like how you spilled your secrets to him, while he played the fool.” The tape continued. “I’m sure you wouldn’t have shared so much, if you  **knew**  who was **listening**. Especially since  **he**  was the topic of **so many conversations**.” In an instant, Sammy’s mind went to his interactions with Lensey, all those one-sided conversations where he’d poured his heart out to the projector headed monster. Sammy wasn’t normally the most talkative of people, but there was something about Lensey that made him feel comfortable. He’d told Lensey everything that came into his mind. Especially when it came to Norman…Oh God. He was starting to feel sick.

“But maybe- Maybe you  **already knew**?” The voice on the tape was mocking, almost vindictive. “You always  **wanted** to tell him how you felt~ What a perfect coincidence~ To find such a familiar, yet different face. In such a  **scary place** ~” Sammy’s hands began to shake as realization dawned on him. 

“Funny thing is, I don’t have to use names, do I?” The voice purred. “In fact…He’s already in the room, isn’t he?” Sammy felt a hand on his shoulder and a gut-wrenchingly familiar presence. Sammy turned around slowly, tears in his eyes. For a moment, he thought that when he turned he’d see Norman. But he saw Lensey, looking rather worried. 

“Norman?” Sammy croaked. Lensey’s ‘eye’ widened, then his shoulders slumped. He nodded slowly.

“This…This whole time. You were here this whole time.” Sammy said. Norman assumed Sammy would be angry with him for not telling him the truth sooner. Instead, Sammy collapsed into Norman’s arms and just cried, whispering that he was sorry over and over again. Norman patted the smaller man’s back gently. There wasn’t much else he could do. 


	74. A Meeting Of Creations

So after reading [this](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Farchiveofourown.org%2Fworks%2F11702598%2Fchapters%2F26376555&t=OTE1MmU1NTMwYTA1MjUyZjUzZTVmMjUzZTFlOTUwMWYyOTc2Nzc4ZCxZYm9GbUpmSg%3D%3D&b=t%3Abf1mUcY3jG5LyWt2YecXMQ&p=http%3A%2F%2Fqueenofcats17.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F172160447830%2Fa-meeting-of-creations&m=0), I had some ideas involving [@disneyphantomlover](https://tmblr.co/mtxWKjFluVA2ChP3UkW9yuw)‘s Murray Hill and my own supernatural dealmaker, Carmine.

I apologize if I butcher Murray or if this is weird. I’m sick and it’s late, but I wanted to do this self-indulgent fic.

* * *

Carmine didn’t interact with other Creations too terribly often. It wasn’t for lack of trying on his Creator’s part, she did try, but she was young and shy and didn’t know how to introduce him to other people. So he mostly interacted with her other Creations. But there were times when he ventured out on his own to talk to others who truly interested him. Murray Hill was one of those times. Carmine seldom saw Creations that were like him, that were aware of what they were and had a special relationship with their Creators. He felt a kinship with this man. It was almost required that he interact with him. 

So while his Creator was sleeping, he slipped out and into the world that Murray Hill resided in. It was easy enough to bluff his way around the defences of the employees of Joey Drew Studios, he already knew them from his Creator’s interest in the world. He found Murray Hill in Joey Drew’s office, trying to sell Joey on this whole Creation thing. Carmine smiled to himself and cleared his throat politely. Murray Hill looked up, rather annoyed at being interrupted. However, as soon as he got a good look at Carmine, his mood changed. 

“Ah, hello.” Joey straightened his bowtie almost self-consciously. “How can I help you?”

“I’m a friend of Mr. Hill’s.” Carmine smiled easily. “I was hoping I could have a talk with him if that’s alright.” Joey glanced at Murray, who nodded. 

“I’ll be back.” He promised, heading for the door. “And please, do think about what I said.”

“I…I will.” Joey nodded, going back to his paperwork. As soon as the door closed, Murray Hill was on him like a wolf. 

“How did you get here?” He asked eagerly, obviously pleased to see another Creation. 

“I can move between worlds as I please,” Carmine said. What he didn’t mention was that he could only move between worlds because his Creator enjoyed writing him into different worlds as a way of inserting some of herself into a story. 

“Why are you here?” His jealousy was obvious, which almost made Carmine feel smug. Such a pity his Creator had given him emotions back. It would have been nice not to feel anything towards Murray.

“I’m here because I wanted to talk to you.” Carmine leaned against the wall. “You interest me, Mr. Hill. We’re very similar you and I.”

“How so?” Murray didn’t lean back, ready to pounce if the need arose. 

“I understand how you feel. The grief of being separated from your Creator must be unbearable.” His voice took on a softness even he hadn’t expected. “I don’t know what I would do if I was taken from my Creator.”

“It is difficult, yes, but it won’t be that way forever. If I can’t go back to my world, I’ll recreate it here.” Murray smiled. It was a cruel expression, one Carmine had seen far too many times on his own face. Murray Hill would have loved to meet the Demon King he had once been, before his Creator had learned to love him.

“This won’t end well for anyone,” Carmine said. “You aren’t going to succeed.” Almost immediately, Murray’s gaze shifted. Carmine was no longer a friend, but a threat. 

“Calm down. I can’t stop you.” Carmine put his hands up. “Nor will I. If anything, it will certainly give my Creator some ideas.” It already had, in fact, but Murray didn’t need to know that. 

“Tell me, are you a dealmaker?” Murray asked. 

“I was, once upon a time.” Carmine felt almost wistful at the thought. “I used to be a king. The King of Hell.”

“What happened?”

“What happens to all villains. I was defeated.” Carmine shrugged slightly. “But my Creator liked me enough so she didn’t decide to kill me off. I have, as she puts it, ‘wormed my way into her heart and refused to leave’.” Murray chuckled, shaking his head. Carmine joined him in laughter. This was one of the few genuine expressions he’d gotten out of the other man.

“Do you love her?” Murray asked after a moment.

“More than I could possibly say,” Carmine admitted. “She’s everything to me.”

“My Creator meant that much to me,” Murray said, watching Carmine coolly. “And no one is going to stop me from having a Creator again.” 

“Very well.” Carmine nodded. “I should probably be going. You have work to do.”

“I do hope to see you again.” Murray inclined his head towards Carmine and headed back into the office. Carmine hesitated for a moment before heading downstairs to the music department. He knocked on Sammy’s door and waited. 

“Yeah?” Sammy opened the door, a cigarette clamped between his teeth. 

“Hello.” Carmine let his smile become more genuine. 

“Who are you?” Sammy asked, looking Carmine over.

“Just a friend of Mr. Hill’s.” Carmine waved a hand dismissively. “I came down here because my girlfriend’s a big fan of your music. She’d never forgive me if I didn’t get your autograph for her.” Sammy stared at him for a moment, then mumbled something and disappeared into the office. When he returned, he was holding a piece of paper. 

“What’s her name?” Sammy asked. Carmine gave her name and Sammy scribbled it down along with his signature. 

“Thank you.” Carmine took the paper and bowed slightly. “She’s going to be very happy.”

“Yeah yeah. I have to get back to work.” Sammy turned away, trying to hide the smile on his face. Carmine waited until everyone was gone, then stepped back through his portal back to the safety of his Creator’s mind. He knew he should consider himself lucky he still had her. And after seeing how warped and twisted Murray Hill had become, he did. 


	75. Prompts! Of the fluff variety

> Submitted by Anonymous
> 
> It’s 5AM and my tooth hurts so fluff prompts!
> 
> -Sleepy cuddles (and maybe kisses?) from a pair of your choosing
> 
> -“I love you so much…” “Yeah,yeah now finish my pancakes you walnut”
> 
> -Henry saves everyone au: “Life’s getting better, just gotta take it one step atta time”
> 
> You don’t have to do these but if you do,thanks in advance!

Oooh~ These are cool. I think I’ll do a little more of Sammy/Henry and Wally/Thomas for [@ask-joeydrew-productions](https://tmblr.co/mXK3fzAaPnFEjVSk-rWcFHg) 

Also, I’m sorry it took so long. I had a lot of requests. ^^”

* * *

Thomas was a man of few words. He didn’t spend time lavishing extravagant praise on Wally or romancing his boyfriend with words. Instead, he spoke with his actions. At the end of every day, he crawled into bed with Wally and held the janitor close to his chest. Wally liked those moments. He felt safe and protected being held against Thomas’ chest. 

“Hey, Tom?” He whispered as they laid in the darkness. The sounds of the city filtered in front the street, the shining neon lights glittering in the window.

“Hm?” Thomas stirred slightly, looking down at Wally. 

“You know I love you, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay, good.” Wally snuggled back against Thomas, satisfied with this. He breathed in Thomas’ scent, the smell of oil and ink and bar soap, and sighed to himself. 

“I love you too,” Thomas whispered back, smiling slightly against Wally’s hair. Wally couldn’t help but giggle. Thomas didn’t tell him he loved him too terribly often. It was more of an unspoken thing. It always made Wally giddy to hear those words pass Thomas’ lips. 

“You have a crush on me~” Wally said in a sing-song voice. Thomas chuckled, kissing Wally’s head. 

“Yes, yes I do.” He replied. “But so do you.” 

“Can we have pancakes for breakfast tomorrow?” Wally wriggled around to get himself properly under the covers. 

“Yeah,” Thomas said, pulling the covers over their heads. “Now let’s get some sleep, okay?”

“Okay.”

.

.

It was Saturday morning and Sammy was making pancakes. He and Henry didn’t have to go to work so Sammy had decided that it was time for a special treat. Henry was perfectly happy to sit at the table and doodle while his boyfriend cooked. 

“Hey,” Sammy glanced over his shoulder. “I love you so much…”

“Yeah, yeah,” Henry couldn’t help but smile slightly and go bright red. “Now finish my pancakes you walnut.” 

“As you wish, my lord.” Sammy bowed grandly, flourishing his spatula. Henry went even redder, groaning and hiding his face. 

“You’re the worst.” He mumbled, despite the fact that he was still smiling. 

“You love me~” Sammy sang. 

“I do.” Henry removed his hands from his face, smiling towards Sammy. Sammy happily returned the expression before going back to cooking, humming and shaking his hips in time with the music on the radio. This was enough to distract Henry from his drawing. Sammy, being the music director, had an impeccable sense of rhythm. Meaning he was a rather good dancer. Henry was entranced by the motion of Sammy’s hips and the sound of his voice. He sighed dreamily. 

“Like what you see?” Sammy asked, looking over his shoulder and wiggling his eyebrows. 

“You’re the worst.” Henry immediately looked away. Sammy laughed and finished the pancakes before dishing them up to Henry. He kissed Henry’s head and patted his shoulder. 

“Enjoy.”

.

.

Getting everyone out of the studio hadn’t been easy, but Henry had managed to do it. Now, everyone was trying to adjust to life outside of the studio. Bendy, especially, was having a bit of a tough time. As a punishment, Henry had managed to turn Joey into an on model Bendy. Bendy was now dealing with the aftermath of Joey’s actions. He spent a lot of time hiding in a room in Henry’s house. Boris and Alice had tried to cheer him up, but he refused to respond. So Henry took it upon himself to have a talk with the little demon.

“Hey, buddy.” Henry opened the door. Bendy didn’t even look up from his place on the bed. Henry sighed and closed the door behind him, walking over to sit beside Bendy. 

“We’re all really worried about you, Bendy.” He said. 

“You shouldn’t be,” Bendy mumbled. “I did bad things.”

“Nobody blames you for what happened in the studio.” Henry put a hand on the little demon’s shoulder. “That wasn’t you. Not really. You shouldn’t be made to suffer for what Joey did.”

“But I am Joey,” Bendy said, his lower lip quivering. He was on the verge of tears. 

“No, you’re not. You two share a body, but you’re not the same.” Henry pulled Bendy into a hug, patting his back. 

“You…You mean it.” Bendy sniffled. 

“I mean it.” Henry nodded. “Life’s getting better, just gotta take it one step at a time. We’re going to get through this, together. You need to remember you’re not alone, Bendy.”

“Yeah, I guess I shouldn’t be trying to do everything by myself.” Bendy laughed nervously. “What an idiot I am.”

“You’re not an idiot,” Henry assured him. “We’re all stubborn sometimes. Don’t worry about it.”

“Henry!” Alice’s voice came from downstairs. “Is Bendy coming down? We wanna do a song!”

“A song!” Bendy’s eyes lit up. “I wanna do a song!” Henry laughed, hoisting Bendy up and putting him on his shoulders. 

“Then let’s go do a song.” He said.


	76. Chapter 76

**[lynadrity-deactivated20180822](https://lynadrity-deactivated20180822.tumblr.com/) asked: I have a idea if you want to write it! What about Thomas ,grant and Norman finding out about Shawn and wally dating?**

Sorry this is so short.

* * *

Shawn, Grant, and Thomas were a rather tight-knit trio. They did almost everything together. However, recently, Shawn had started spending more time with Wally. At first, they hadn’t thought anything of it. Both men were Irish, so of course they’d have that to bond over. But they soon realized that Wally and Shawn’s relationship was more than just friends. They realized this when Norman outright told them he’d seen the Wally and Shawn making out in one of Wally’s closets.

“You what?” Grant asked, almost unable to believe what he was hearing. 

“I saw them making out in Wally’s closet,” Norman said. “I told you, I see everything.”

“Huh.” Thomas nodded slowly.

“So they’re probably dating,” Grant concluded. 

“They’re definitely dating.” Norman agreed. “I’ve heard them discussing dinner plans and anniversaries.”

“Man, you really do see everything,” Thomas said. 

“I keep telling people, but no one believes me until I know their darkest secrets,” Norman said this in a surprisingly casual voice. Grant and Thomas both made a mental note to never ever mess with Norman.

“So…What do we do about it?” Grant asked, looking at Thomas. 

“I don’t know.” Thomas shrugged. “Probably wait for them to tell us themselves. They’ll tell us when they’re ready.”

“Wally probably would have shouted it from the rooftops if he found you two were dating.” Norman pointed out.

“We’re adults,” Grant said. “We don’t do that sort of thing.”

“And this is why I hang out with you two.” Norman grinned.


	77. Murray Meets A Creator

Takes place in [A Debt To Pay](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Farchiveofourown.org%2Fworks%2F12791076%2Fchapters%2F29190675&t=MGZhMmRjYzRjNGE5ZGJkNmI2Nzc5MDVlNzQyNjYyNzljODI3YjFjNyxjbFJQb2ZRUQ%3D%3D&b=t%3Abf1mUcY3jG5LyWt2YecXMQ&p=http%3A%2F%2Fqueenofcats17.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F172709586160%2Fmurray-meets-a-creator&m=0)

This Murray Hill belongs to [@disneyphantomlover](https://tmblr.co/mtxWKjFluVA2ChP3UkW9yuw)

* * *

Murray Hill hadn’t expected to find an actual Creator when he’d returned to the studio. He hadn’t even been planning on returning. He’d simply been in the neighbourhood and had seen an unfamiliar car out front. As he’d approached, he’d felt something he hadn’t felt in a long time. The presence of a Creator. Almost immediately he’d gone into the studio. He could feel a Creation in the studio as well, but he was more interested in the Creator. He’d worked so hard to make Creators and one just showed up? It was almost too perfect. But he wanted so desperately to find another Creator. He found her on level K, admiring the plushes in the toy department. She was talking animatedly to a soul tucked in her hoodie. 

“Excuse me.” Murray cleared his throat politely. The girl, she barely looked out of high school, turned around quickly. She was small and pretty in a rather inoffensive way. She reminded him of a mouse in a way.

“Oh, um, hello.” She smiled nervously. “I didn’t think anyone else was here.” 

“I thought the same.” Murray moved closer. “What’s a young lady like you doing in a place like this?”

“Stay away from her, Hill.” The soul in her hood growled. Murray’s smile widened. 

“Ah, Mr. Lawrence. What a pleasant surprise.” 

The girl looked from Sammy to Murray, nodding slightly. 

“So  _you’re_  Murray Hill.” She said. 

“You’ve heard of me?” Murray raised an eyebrow. 

“Sammy had some things to say about you.” The girl shrugged slightly, beginning to wring her hands. 

“He’s dangerous and you need to stay away from him,” Sammy said coolly.

“You really do seem to gravitate towards vulnerable young women, don’t you, Mr. Lawrence?” Murray chuckled. “First Miss Bell and now this girl.”

“You wanna go, Hill?” Sammy seemed to forget for a moment that he was a disembodied soul.

“Bell?” The girl frowned slightly. 

“Cordelia Bell,” Sammy explained. “She’s the intern I mentioned.” The girl nodded, smiling at the soul. Obviously, they’d had some sort of conversation about Sammy’s relationship with the Bell girl. Murray’s heart ached when he saw the girl smile. It reminded him so much of his own creator. She had such a beautiful smile. 

“Well, you know my name,” Murray said. “But I don’t know yours.”

“Fiona.” It took the girl a few moments to answer. So she had some sense after all. 

“That’s a lovely name.” Murray’s smile softened slightly. “You never did answer my earlier question, though. Why are you here?”

“Well, um….” Fiona shuffled her feet. “God, you’re not going to believe me if I tell you.” 

“Try me.”

“Well…” Fiona exhaled slowly. “My boyfriend is a demon and he’s here to take Joey Drew’s soul.” Murray stared at her for a moment, then started laughing. 

“My, you are creative, aren’t you?” He said. 

“I knew you wouldn’t believe me.” Fiona flushed, hunching her shoulders. 

“I never said I didn’t believe you. Only that you were creative.” Murray assured her. “Are you a storyteller?”

“I kind of am.” Fiona made a vague hand gesture. “I mean, I’d like to be a writer someday.”

“Do you like writing, Miss Fiona?” Murray moved a little closer. Fiona smiled wide, staring down at her hands. 

“More than anything.” She admitted. Murray could see the words that swirled around her head, royal purple and constantly darting in and out of her mind. 

“I never thought I’d run into a Creator here of all places.” He said. 

“A Creator?” Sammy asked. “What’s he talking about?”

“Um…” Fiona’s smile quickly faded and she started fidgeting. “It’s a bit of a long story. You know how I told you I was a writer?”

“Yes.”

“I do more than just write.”

“She created me.” A man rose up out of the ink, dusting himself off. Murray’s eyes widened slightly. 

“Hi, Carmine.” Fiona covered her face with her hands. “Aren’t you supposed to be with Henry and Boris?”

“Henry’s a Protagonist, he’ll be fine.” Carmine waved a hand dismissively. He stood between Fiona and Murray. On the surface, his stance was relaxed, but he seemed ready to pounce at any moment. 

“What do you mean, she ‘created you’?” Sammy asked. 

“It’s exactly what it sounds like,” Fiona said. “He’s a character in a novel I’m writing.”

“But you said he’s your-”

“I know. I’m basically Pyg-fucking-malion at this point.” 

Now that was interesting. Murray had heard of Creators falling in love with their Creations before, but he’d never witnessed it himself. Perhaps this was why Carmine was so protective of his Creator. 

“She’s exactly what I was trying to make all of you into,” Murray said. “Someone who can make their work really live.” 

“So you’re the reason we’re here in the first place.” Carmine looked decidedly unamused. 

“I won’t apologize.” 

“Nor would I ask you to, Mr. Hill.” Carmine smiled, an expression that held a razor blade in it. “A villain must fulfill his role, after all.”

“He doesn’t seem like a villain,” Fiona said weakly. “He seems nice.”

“You’re far too trusting, my dear.” Carmine leaned over and kissed her head. “Now let’s get out of here.” He put a hand on her shoulder and they melted into the shadows before Murray could stop them. Still, seeing this girl had given him some hope. There were Creators in this world. There were Creations, like him. He could do this. He could make Creators.


	78. Sill/Sweet prompts to combat the angst!

> Submitted by Anon
> 
> -I used to think Joey was the gayest person I knew.. But you Sammy Lawrence, have taken the cake.
> 
> -“YOU WANNA PUT YOUR MOUTH ON MY MOUTH” any pairing
> 
> \- “The lord as my witness you are the dumbest person I know”

These are good. 

* * *

Allison liked working for Joey Drew. He was strange, sure, but his employees were a rather interesting bunch of people. She especially liked Sammy Lawrence. Not in a romantic sort of way, she was a lesbian, but definitely in a platonic way. He was a good guy and she was glad she’d met him. For a while, she’d assumed he was straight. He and Susie were pretty close after all. But that changed when she caught Sammy staring at Norman and Henry. They were moving projectors, which was no easy task. Sammy peeked around the corner, watching them with a dreamy look in his eyes.

“Whatcha doin’?” Allison asked, walking up behind him. Sammy practically jumped to the ceiling before dragging her around the corner. Norman and Henry frowned and looked around, trying to figure out where the sound had come from.

“I used to think Joey was the gayest person I knew.” Allison snickered. “But you, Sammy Lawrence, have taken the cake.”

“Shut up!” Sammy hissed, his face as red as it could realistically go. “I’ve seen you watching Susie when she’s practicing!”

“Yeah, but I’m subtle about it.” Allison said. “If you had been ogling those two any harder your eyes would’ve popped out of your head.” Sammy buried his face in his hands and screamed quietly. 

“Nothing to be ashamed of, Sammy.” She patted his back. “We can all appreciate a fine specimen of humanity. Norman’s a good looking guy and Henry’s a cutie-patootie. Even I can see that.”

“Just kill me now.” 

“Nuh uh.” Allison shook her head. “You’re gonna ask one or both of them out, got it?” 

“What?! Right now?!” Sammy looked up abruptly, eyes wide. 

“Okay, maybe not right now.” Allison conceded. “But later. You gotta act on your feelings, Sammy! Don’t keep everything bottled up!”

“I don’t even know if they’re interested,” Sammy said, tugging at his ponytail. 

“If they’re not, then they’re not.” Allison shrugged. “But you’ll feel better.” Sammy groaned and headed for his office. Allison couldn’t help but smile. Sammy was still a little repressed, but she was going to help him, no matter what. She’d make him happy. It was what friends did. 

“Hey, what was all that yelling about?” Norman asked, rounding the corner with Henry. 

“Just Sammy being Sammy,” Allison said with a smile. “Don’t worry about it.”

“If you say so.” Henry shrugged. “I should get back to work.” Then they dispersed. 

.

.

Wally wasn’t good at flirting. That was just a fact. Which made it really hard when he wanted to ask someone out. In this case, he wanted to ask Shawn out. He was having a rather hard time of it. Every time he tried to do it, he either lost his nerve and left or ended up changing the subject. 

“You have to just do it,” Sammy said when Wally asked him about it. 

“Easy for you to say,” Wally muttered. 

“You have to realize I haven’t asked out either of the men I’m pining after,” Sammy said flatly. “So one of us needs to finally bite the bullet.” Wally groaned and tugged on his cap. 

“Okay, how about this?” Sammy suggested. “If you can do it, I’ll get you two a date at that restaurant you like.”

“Really?” Wally raised an eyebrow. “You’d do that for me?” 

“Yeah.” Sammy got up and patted Wally’s back. “Maybe if you can do it, I can get up the courage to do the same.”

“Well, if it’s that important to you.” Wally grinned. “I guess I can be a good role model.” Sammy rolled his eyes and let go. 

“Just do it, will you?” He said. “I gotta get back to work.” 

“Yeah yeah. Alright.” Wally left Sammy’s office. His heart was already starting to pound. He had to do this. So he walked down to the toy department and slammed the door to Shawn’s office open.

“YOU WANNA PUT YOUR MOUTH ON MY MOUTH?!”

Shawn and Joey looked over at Wally, both rather surprised. Wally’s eyes widened. Oh shit. Joey was there. That meant he’d just walked in on a business meeting. 

“I’m assuming you’re talking to Shawn, not me,” Joey said, the corners of his mouth twitching up into a smile. 

“I, um, uh…Yeah.” 

“Sure.” Shawn laughed and shook his head. “If you’re offering me a date, I’m on board.” 

“I’ll, uh, I’ll call you.” Wally turned and ran back upstairs to hide in his janitor closet. 

.

.

Henry had had a crush on Sammy for a long time. However he, like Allison, had assumed Sammy was straight due to how much time he spent with Susie. By this point, Susie and Allison had started formulating a plan to get Sammy together with Henry. Especially since both men were as thick as bricks when it came to romance. 

“Alright, so, are we just going to tell them?” Susie asked. 

“That’s the only way we’re going to get this to work.” Allison nodded. “You take Sammy, I’ll take Henry.” 

“Got it.” Susie agreed. They split off and went to their respective men. Allison cornered Henry in his office. 

“Sammy has a crush on you.” She said, slamming her hands on his desk. Henry started and looked up, frowning. 

“Excuse me?” He asked. 

“Sammy has a crush on you,” Allison repeated. 

“No…” Henry shook his head, tucking some hair behind his ear. “He’s…He’s with Susie, isn’t he?”

“The lord as my witness you are the dumbest person I know.” Allison sighed, running a hand through her hair. “No. He’s as straight as a bendy straw.”

“You’re serious?”

“As serious as I can be.” Allison nodded, leaning on the desk. “So you two need to talk about this.” 

“I….Uh…I’ll do it.” Henry nodded, flushing. “But later, okay? I gotta work.” 

“Okay!”


	79. Prompts of the gay variety (and a lullaby):

> Submitted by Anon
> 
> -Henry sipped his coffee with a knowing smile as he watched the two men talk. “What is happening here?“  “Gay Thomas, Gay is happening here"  “oh”
> 
> -Sammy is carrying around Wally bridal style…but why?
> 
> \- “Bye Bye Allison!“  Allison waved as Susie Campbell left the dressing room. Immediately shoving her face in her hands as she started to giggle. “I…am in love!”
> 
> -(Post game) Henry singing a lullaby to one (or all) of the toons. He’s surprisingly good as well.

>:3 I love this. 

* * *

Thomas had never seen Sammy Lawrence have a positive interaction with Wally Franks. He’d just accepted that the two of them hated each other and that was that. However, today…Today things were different. That day, Thomas had come into the break room to see Wally and Sammy talked at a table. Neither of them was yelling at the other, neither was throwing things. They were just talking over coffee. Henry was the only other person in the room, sitting at a different table with his own coffee. Thomas walked over to stand beside Henry, his mouth wide open. Henry sipped his coffee with a knowing smile as he watched the two men talk.

“What is happening here?“  

“Gay Thomas, Gay is happening here”  

“Oh.” That answered absolutely none of his questions, but that was about all he wanted to know. 

“I don’t get paid enough for this.” Thomas muttered to himself before leaving. 

.

.

Sammy was carrying Wally bridal style through the music department. No one was quite sure why he was doing this and no one was brave enough to question the music director. Except for Susie. 

“What’s with the PDA?” She asked, falling into step beside Sammy. 

“Wally passed out in the elevator,” Sammy explained. “I’m taking him back to my office so he can rest.”

“Aaw.” Susie clicked her tongue. “Poor guy. He’s been working too hard.”

“It’s got nothing to do with work. He stayed up all night reading.” Sammy couldn’t help but smile a little. “I found him on the couch this morning with the book over his face.”

“Oooh~ What book?” Susie’s eyes lit up. Wally was an avid reader, despite what others thought, and he always seemed to find the strangest and most intriguing books.

“I don’t know.” Sammy shrugged slightly. “Mind opening the door for me?” Susie nodded and opened the door. Sammy entered and placed Wally on a cot he’d pushed into a corner. Wally curled up, still sleeping soundly.

“He’s so cute when he’s sleeping.” Susie said. 

“It’s the only time his mouth isn’t moving.” Sammy chuckled, continuing to smile gently down at his boyfriend. “I’m really lucky to have him, you know?”

“We all know.” Susie slapped his back. Sammy didn’t talk a lot about his boyfriend, but when he did he really gushed. He was head over heels for Wally and everyone knew it. Susie was the only one who could give Sammy a hard time about it, and boy did she. 

“Hey, if Franks is out of commission, could one of you help me mop up some ink?” Thomas asked, poking his head in. “There’s a big spill in an animation room and the animators are going crazy.” 

“I got this.” Susie patted Sammy’s back. “You keep working.” Then she left with Thomas, who just nodded to Sammy. Sammy sat down at his desk and started back on his work, glancing at Wally every so often.

.

.

Allison had had a crush on Susie Campbell ever since she’d heard the other woman sing as Alice Angel. Now she was finally getting to meet her idol in person. Susie was in a production of Cinderella as the Fairy Godmother and Allison had managed to get in as Cinderella. Allison had been ecstatic to arrive on their first day of rehearsals. Susie was an absolute darling. She was kind, understanding, and most of all had a sense of humour. Allison found her crush deepening even more as they came closer and closer to opening night. It was all she could do to keep herself focused on the production and her songs. And then, on opening night, Susie came to her dressing room. 

“Knock knock~” Susie opened the door, smiling ear to ear. “How are you feeling?”

“A-A little nervous,” Allison admitted. She was more than a little nervous, though. She was downright terrified. She was about to go on in front of thousands of people. She’d never sung in front of that many people before. 

“It’ll be alright, sweetie.” Susie crossed the room, looking resplendent in her costume, and put her hands on Allison’s shoulders. “I still get a little nervous before going on, too.” 

“Wha- You do?” Allison asked. 

“Sure I do.” Susie nodded. “Why wouldn’t I?”

“I just…I just thought…Well, you’ve done this sort of thing so many times and all.”

“Oh honey, even professionals get stage fright,” Susie assured her. “You just gotta learn to control your fear. Besides, I’m sure you’re going to be amazing.”

“Thanks.” Allison flushed, playing with her skirt. “That really means a lot to me.”

“No problem,” Susie said brightly. “Now, I should probably get back to makeup. Bye bye Allison!“  

Allison waved as Susie left the dressing room. Immediately shoving her face in her hands as she started to giggle. “I…am in love!” 

Sure enough, when she went on she dazzled the crowd. When the curtain fell, the audience erupted into applause. 

“I knew you could do it,” Susie whispered to Allison as they departed the stage “You really knocked ‘em dead.” 

“Thanks.” Allison couldn’t stop smiling. “Um, do you want to grab dinner sometime?” Susie stopped, her eyes widening. 

“Are you…Are you asking me out?”

“I-I mean if you don’t want to that’s fine, I don’t want to pressure you-”

“No no, I definitely want to.” Susie grabbed Allison’s hands in hers, grinning. “I just never thought you’d get up the courage! I’m so glad you finally did!” 

“You…You knew I had a crush on you?” Allison felt like she wanted to curl up and die. Had she been _that_ obvious?

“I know these things.” Susie laughed. “Don’t worry about it. Let’s get changed and we can go eat. There’s this great Italian place I know.” She dragged Allison back towards the dressing rooms, talking the whole way. Once Allison got over her embarrassment, she felt a warm feeling in her chest. She was going on a date with  _Susie Campbell_. 

.

.

They’d gotten out of the studio. They’d done it. Henry had managed to save everyone and get everyone out. But they weren’t alright. Not really. They suffered with the memory of what they’d done in the studio, the people they’d been. Bendy and Alice were both having a particularly difficult time. Henry hadn’t been able to sleep one night, getting up to get some coffee. As he passed the room the toons were sleeping in, he heard the sounds of quiet sobbing. He frowned and poked his head in. Bendy and Alice were curled up together, both crying quietly. 

“What’s wrong?” Henry asked, entering the room. Both Alice and Bendy looked up, eyes wide. 

“N-Nothing,” Alice said quickly, trying to wipe her tears away.

“Why’re you up so late?” Bendy demanded. 

“I couldn’t sleep.” Henry walked over to sit beside them on the bed. “What are your excuses?” Bendy and Alice exchanged a look, both seemingly deciding to come clean. 

“We both had a nightmare,” Alice admitted. “About the…things we did.”

“Ah.” Henry smiled in understanding. He reached out and pulled them both into a hug, holding them close to his chest. 

“I’m here for you.” He said. “No matter what. I want you both to remember that.” Both toons sniffled, burrowing into Henry’s chest. 

“Can you sing us a song?” Alice asked after a moment or so. “So we can sleep.”

“Of course,” Henry said. He couldn’t help but chuckle to himself. He remembered singing to his kids when they’d had bad dreams too. Alice withdrew, snuggling up under the covers. Bendy followed a moment or two later. 

“It better be a good song.” He muttered half-heartedly. 

“I’ll do an old favourite,” Henry said, then began to sing. “Somewhere over the rainbow. Way up high, there’s a land that I heard of once in a lullaby.”

“I love this song,” Alice said. 

“I knew you would.” Henry paused before continuing. “Somewhere over the rainbow. Skies are blue, and the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true. Someday I’ll wish upon a star and wake up where the clouds are far behind me. Where troubles melt like lemon drops away above the chimney tops, that’s where you’ll find me.” 

As Henry sang, the toons’ eyelids began to droop. They yawned, trying desperately to stay awake. But the lull of Henry’s voice put them to sleep.

“Somewhere over the rainbow. Bluebirds fly. Birds fly over the rainbow. Why then, oh why can’t I? If happy little bluebirds fly beyond the rainbow, why, oh why can’t I?” Henry finished. Bendy and Alice were both fast asleep now. Henry smiled softly, pulling the blankets over the sleeping forms of the toons. They were going to be alright, he was sure of it. 


	80. Fluffy Prompts as soft as pillows:

> Submitted by anon
> 
> -Dogs are like personal heaters that lay on top of you at night. Boris practically lays on top of Henry when they sleep in the studio.
> 
> -Pre-Game Joey and Henry cuddles
> 
> -Duets are nice… (any ship)
> 
> -“Would have not been for the distance between us I would have kissed you by now”
> 
> -“I love you so much”. “What?” “ **What** ”

Fluff is good. Yes. 

* * *

One thing Henry hadn’t anticipated when Joey had brought the toons to life was being slept on. He’d sometimes fall asleep in the studio when he was working, and that hadn’t been a problem before. But now, when he fell asleep anywhere in the studio, he’d wake up to either Bendy, Boris, or both on top of him. It was usually Boris, honestly. Especially when Henry fell asleep in the break room.

“He really is like a big puppy.” Joey would always say when he found Boris sleeping on top of Henry. 

“This is murder on my back,” Henry grumbled, getting up and stretching out the kinks. Boris just smiled, tongue lolling out of one side of his mouth in a rather adorable manner. He nuzzled against Henry’s legs. 

“Yeah, I love you too, buddy,” Henry said, scratching Boris behind the ears. 

.

.

Joey didn’t like being touched. Just by people in general. This meant that if anyone, usually Wally, tried to initiate physical contact Joey would violently recoil. The exception to this rule, as with many other rules about Joey, was Henry. Joey always sought Henry out for cuddles after a particularly difficult day. It wasn’t uncommon to find Henry in Joey’s office, with Joey curled up in his arms. Joey was considerably taller than Henry but still managed to fold himself up so he fit in Henry’s lap. Henry didn’t really mind holding Joey when he was having a hard time. 

“You’re such a sweetheart.” Henry laughed, patting Joey’s head as his friend snuggled up to him. 

“Just hold me, please,” Joey muttered. “I just want to forget for the moment.”

“Alright.” Henry kissed his head and held him close. Joey focused on the warmth of Henry’s body, sighing softly. He could always count on Henry to be there for him no matter what. He hoped Henry never left. 

.

.

The whole studio had gone out for drinks that night. They were celebrating their show’s 100th episode. Everyone was in good spirits, drinking and laughing and playing games. And at the piano, were Sammy and Susie, singing loudly and bawdily. Everyone was rather surprised to see Sammy so jovial and animated. 

“I never thought I’d see Sammy like this,” Wally whispered to Norman. The two of them were the soberest of the bunch since they were the designated drivers. Norman, who had seen everyone in the studio drunk before, just nodded. He found Sammy rather hilarious in this state. Especially since Susie was equally smashed. Together, the couple was singing a song called Drunken Sailor, loudly and a little out of tune.

“What will we do with a drunken sailor?  
What will we do with a drunken sailor?  
What will we do with a drunken sailor?  
Early in the morning!” They belted out. Sammy was having trouble playing the piano in his intoxicated state, but he was doing his best. 

“Think you could record this?” Wally whispered to Norman. Norman grinned and nodded. Sammy was never going to live this down.

.

.

Norman might not talk very often, but when he did he could be rather eloquent. He was a real smooth talker when he wanted to be. Sammy knew this better than anyone and it was a fact he guarded closely. He liked it when Norman sweet-talked him and didn’t want to share the secret of Norman’s silver tongue with anyone. He knew it was selfish, but he wanted to feel special. He wanted the charismatic Norman to himself. Norman didn’t mind so much. Being underestimated meant he could go more places without being noticed. Still, he had to reassure Sammy every so often.

“Norman, I’m not a bad person, am I?” Sammy asked, flopping down in the chair opposite Norman in the break room.

“What happened?” Norman asked, putting his book down so Sammy had his full attention. 

“It’s just…All the interns are scared of me and there are rumours going around about awful things I supposedly did and I just…” Sammy sighed, laying his head on the table. 

“You’re not trying to be malicious. You just don’t do well with stress.” Norman assured him. “If they got to know you, they’d know there’s nothing to be afraid of.” Sammy sighed loudly, running a hand through his hair. 

“Do you…You actually love me, right?” He asked, looking up. “You’re not just pitying me?”

“Would have not been for the distance between us I would have kissed you by now.” Norman smiled. Sammy smiled back, feeling the blush rising in his cheeks. 

“You always know what to say.” He mumbled, shrugging his shoulders. 

“Well, I try.” Norman leaned back in his chair. “It’s always fun to see you flustered. You’re so cute.”

“I’m not cute!” Sammy said, but there was no venom in his words. 

“You’re adorable.” Norman just smiled lazily. Sammy made an annoyed noise, burying his head in his hands. Norman picked his book up and went back to reading. He liked getting Sammy flustered. It was a secret side to the music director only he got to see.

.

.

Thomas wasn’t good with words. He never had been and he never would be. But being around Norman made him want to be. He wanted to sweep the other man off his feet, make him feel special. He felt that way now, watching Norman as he worked the projector. Thomas had been called to the projection booth to fix a busted pipe and he couldn’t help but stare at Norman in wonder.

“I love you so much.” He whispered.

“What?” Norman looked up from the projector.

“ **What**.” Thomas immediately looked away. Norman got up, walking over to where Thomas was standing. 

“Sorry, I couldn’t hear you. The projector can be real loud.” He said. “What did you say.”

“Nothing.” Thomas kept his gaze firmly on the pipe, wondering how long he could milk this whole tightening the bolt thing.

“Now don’t you do that,” Norman said. “I know you said something.”

“…I said I love you so much.” Thomas mumbled, continuing to avoid looking at Norman. Norman stared at him for a moment, then chuckled to himself. 

“I love you too, Thomas.” He patted the other man’s back before going to sit down again. Thomas stopped what he was doing to just take in what had been said. Then he smiled to himself. 


	81. Chapter 81

**[shadow-tea](https://shadow-tea.tumblr.com/) asked: Okay-um, sorry I’m back again. I just got an idea. Henry going power crazy because of the ink and his newfound powers over it? After Franken Boris has died, he fights Susie Alice instead?**

Don’t worry about it. I’m sorry this took a bit. I didn’t have time to write.

* * *

Henry had been terrified when he’d discovered that he was no longer human. He’d caught sight of himself in a puddle of ink and it had all made sense. Everything made sense now. However, that didn’t make him feel any better about it. He’d just wanted to see what Joey had for him and maybe put the past 30 years behind them. He hadn’t wanted this. But the ink had been eager to assure him that it was going to be alright. He tried to put the voices from his mind, but they kept coming back, always at the back of his head. 

 _Join us._ They whispered.  _You can have power. All the power you desire._

“Go away,” Henry muttered, trying to wave them away. Especially now, he just wanted to get Boris and get out of there. If he could even get out. 

 _We can get you your friend back._ The ink promised.  _No one will ever hurt him again while you’re here._

“Shut up.” Henry snapped. He didn’t need this right now. The ink seemed to retreat a little bit, rather upset by Henry’s continued refusal to accept it. However, it got its chance when the fight with Franken-Boris occurred. 

“Why is this happening?!” Henry yelled, running around the room to get away from the twisted version of his companion.

 _Use us. Let us in._  The ink begged.  _We can save you._

Henry hesitated. He really didn’t want to do this. But did he really have a choice? He probably wouldn’t survive this fight if he didn’t use the power of the ink. 

“Fine.” He said. The mental blocks he’d been putting up against the thrall of the ink finally came down. In an instant, he felt power filling him. All the aches and pains of his age had vanished with his transformation, but now he truly felt years younger. He felt better than he ever had, in fact. He could feel the ink all around him and inside of him. Franken-Boris roared and charged, but with a flick of his hand, Henry dispelled him. A tendril of ink appeared and swatted the raging best away. Henry almost couldn’t believe how easy that had been.

“Why didn’t I do this sooner?” He laughed. Ink tendrils appeared from the puddles, batting Franken-Boris around as though he was a badminton. It was incredible! Soon enough, the creature lay at his feet, defeated. 

 _Did we not promise you power?_  The ink purred.  _Are you satisfied?_

“I’m more than satisfied!” Henry couldn’t stop laughing. This was incredible! He heard Alice scream and felt her presence enter the room. He turned, a smirk on his features. 

“Why won’t you die?!” She screamed, running towards him. Previously, Henry had felt pity towards her. Now he felt only disdain. She thought she could defeat him? What a fool she was. He had the full weight of the ink behind him! Alice tried to rush him, but he swatted her away with the ink tendrils. Each successive swat made Alice more and more upset. 

“Why?!” She screeched. “Why can’t you let me win?!”

“You’ve been torturing me since I got here!” Henry yelled back. “Did you really think I’d take pity on you?”

“It’s what you do!” Alice struggled in the grasp of the tendrils. “You’re too nice for your own good!”

“Not anymore!” Henry smiled cruelly, slowly squeezing his hand into a fist. As he did this, the tendril’s grip on Alice tightened. She gasped as the air was squeezed out of her. He could hear the cracks as her ribs began to yield. Soon enough, she stopped kicking. Henry let her go, smiling as her body hit the ground. He was the boss now.


	82. Chapter 82

**[shadow-tea](https://shadow-tea.tumblr.com/) asked: Okay, I really like how you write these! I’m going ask another one. What about Susie Alice seeing Henry as Bendy and trying to kill him himself? But, since maybe he’s becoming Perfect!Bendy in game, what if he easily kills her and then hears the ink Hive Mind coming into his mind, calming his panicked nerves as they calm him down? Hope that makes sense!**

Oh, thank you so much! 

* * *

_It wasn’t fair. Why did he get to be perfect? She was perfect for Alice. She was connected to her! Alice was a part of her! What connection did Henry have to Bendy, anyway? It wasn’t fair! Just seeing him waltzing around in his perfect form made her blood boil. It should be **her**  with the perfect form, not him! She had to kill him and take his heart. Then she’d be perfect. She wanted to know why he was there, sure, but she wanted him dead more. If he was dead, then she’d be perfect. _

Henry just wanted to get out of the studio. He didn’t care about finding Joey anymore. He just wanted to keep Boris safe and leave. Unfortunately, “Alice” had other ideas. When the elevator crashed, Henry found himself disoriented and bruised, but mostly unharmed. 

“What the-? How did that not kill me?” He muttered, getting up. Boris laid a few feet away, little stars circling around his head. 

“Boris, are you alright?” Henry crossed the room towards him but was stopped by the voice of “Alice”.

“You still haven’t realized what you are yet, have you?” She said, her voice dripping with venom. “How lucky you are.” Henry turned to address her and found her holding a hand mirror, regarding her reflection with distaste.

“Why don’t you take a look for yourself?” She turned the mirror so that Henry could see his own reflection. To his surprise, he saw the face of Bendy the Dancing Demon looking back at him. 

“What the-”

“Do you understand now?” “Alice” asked, throwing the mirror to the ground. “Do you see how lucky you are?! You’re perfect! You’re everything  **I**  should be!” She lunged at him, pinning him to the ground. 

“What makes you so special?!” She screamed, slamming him repeatedly into the floor. “Why do you get to be perfect?!” Henry felt fear and anger rising up in his chest. He didn’t understand why this had happened to him and he sure as hell didn’t want to be like this. Why was “Alice” so angry with  _him_?

“I…didn’t…ask for this!” Henry yelled, pushing her off of him. Alice stumbled backward, still spitting mad. Henry got to his feet, seething with his own anger. Inky tendrils began to stretch across the walls as his anger grew. 

“You think _I’m_  happy about this?!” He snapped. “I left to get away from Joey’s bullshit! Not to get turned into a f#$%ing cartoon character!” “Alice” took a step back, glancing wildly at the tendrils closing in around her. She knew she’d made a mistake. She’d underestimated the kind of power Henry would have as a perfect version of Bendy. 

“I just want to go home!” Henry stamped his foot and the tendrils wrapped around “Alice”. They started squeezing, tighter and tighter. By the time Henry registered what was going on, “Alice” was already lifeless on the ground. 

“Oh…Oh my God.” Henry whispered. He’d just killed someone. Granted, she’d tried to kill him, but still! He’d  _killed_ someone!

“ _Calm yourself._ ” A voice whispered into his mind. It sounded like multiple voices, actually, all speaking together. “ _You were only defending yourself._ ”

“Who are you?” Henry asked, looking wildly around. The voices seemed to be coming from inside his head. 

“ _We are no one. And everyone. We are the ink_.” The voice answered. “ _And we are here to serve you, Lord Bendy._ ”

“But I’m not Bendy.”

“ _You are now._ ” The voice was sweet and soothing. “ _And isn’t it glorious? Never again will you fall ill or get hurt or age. You will never die._ ”

“That sounds…nice.” Henry smiled dreamily, completely drawn in by the voice. It was just so kind and reassuring. It had to have his best interests at heart, right?”


	83. Chapter 83

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This has been since disproven, but I still like it

So, [@phoena12](https://tmblr.co/m4zzgIg40wGyqWrbVCrWeVw) and I had an interesting conversation about the new BATIM chapter and Henry’s possible humanity and she said this:  _Or when he gets to the end of the game and he’s saved alice and boris, he looks in a broken mirror and sees what he looks like, a toon_

Which gave me ideas~

* * *

They were finally going to get out. After all they’d been through, all the battles and running and hiding, they were getting out. The Ink Demon had been defeated by his hand, revealing itself to be none other than Joey Drew. Joey had pleaded with Henry, but Henry was all out of compassion. Joey was now all tied up and slung over Thomas’ shoulder. Henry could hardly believe it was all over now. He had a large crowd of Lost Ones behind him as Allison and Thomas led the way back up the stairs towards the first floor and the exit. 

“Almost there.” Allison turned to give him a big smile. 

“I can’t wait to see Linda again.” Henry smiled tiredly as they ascended the stairs. The Lost Ones began whispering between one another. Henry knew they were nervous. They’d spent so long in the studio. Sammy was leading the Lost Ones. He’d discarded his Bendy mask after discovering just who his savior was. 

“Come along, my sheep.” He coaxed them. “We’ll all be out soon enough.” For the most part, he was a lot quieter now. He’d apologized quite a bit to Henry and everyone else. They’d accepted his apologies, of course.

“Wonder how we’re gonna explain all this,” Thomas muttered with a snort. “Sure won’t be easy.”

“It’ll definitely be….interesting.” Allison laughed tiredly. Joey groaned loudly. Thomas rolled his pie-cut eyes and hefted Joey. It looked like he was going to have to knock him out again or they’d have to listen to Joey’s pleading again. He wasn’t getting away with this, not this time. 

“Well, it’ll help to have at least one human to explain things,” Henry said, passing a broken mirror. However, he paused when he saw his reflection. Henry hadn’t seen his reflection since he’d come to the studio. Instead of his normal reflection, he saw Bendy the Dancing Demon staring back at him through the fractured glass. 

“One human?” Allison paused and looked back at him. “What are you talking about, Henry? None of us are human anymore.” Even Joey had been affected by the ink. 

“How…How long have I looked like this?” Henry asked, eyes wide as he looked over at Allison and Thomas. 

“You looked that way when we found you,” Thomas said. 

“You were that way when I discovered you.” Sammy agreed. “It was why I didn’t recognize you in the first place.”

“So I’ve been a toon this whole time?” Henry whispered. 

“I mean, I did knock you out with a metal dustpan.” Sammy pointed out. “A normal human would probably have gotten a concussion.”

“Not to mention that elevator drop,” Allison added. “A human couldn’t have survived anything at this studio.” Henry couldn’t believe this. He was a toon. Joey had gotten him as well. The Lost Ones crowded around him, trying to comfort him as he started to cry. Allison hurried to Henry’s side, doing the same. Thomas glared at Joey.

“See what you’ve done?” He growled. 

“He’s lucky,” Joey mumbled. “He got to be perfect. You saw what a disaster I was.”

“Don’t make me smash you into a wall,” Thomas said flatly. “None of us are lucky. We’re just more fortunate than the others. But none of this had anything to do with luck.” Henry was inconsolable. It was just the last straw. Would his family even recognize him? What would happen to him once they got outside? He had to say though, it did make sense. Allison and Sammy were right. No human could have survived all he had at the studio. Not to mention, he’d known somehow that he’d gotten shorter. 

“It’ll be okay, Henry,” Allison assured him. “We’re going to be okay. We’ll get out and we’ll figure things out.” 

“You’re not alone.” Sammy put a hand on his shoulder. 

“Are you all done with this trash?” Joey asked. Without hesitation, Thomas shoved his head through the wall. The studio head was out cold when the former mechanic withdrew him.

“You didn’t need to do that.” Allison scolded him. 

“Shut him up, didn’t it?” Thomas shrugged and slung Joey back over his shoulder. Allison sighed and turned her attention back to Henry. 

“We can get going whenever you’re ready.” She said. Henry nodded, and after a few minutes they started off again. Soon enough they reached the exit. They all glanced at one another, their hearts beginning to pound. Then Henry stepped forward, opened the door, and stepped into the light.


	84. Chapter 84

**[shadow-tea](https://shadow-tea.tumblr.com/) asked: Do you still requests for Bendy and the Ink Machine? If so, what about Henry finally manages to see his reflection, but sees a part of his face but has Bendy like features?**

This is a good one~

* * *

Henry had known  _something_  was wrong, but he hadn’t been sure of what it was. He’d noticed he was shorter than he used to be, and what happened when he ‘died’ was certainly strange. He tried to put it from his mind, though. He’d figure it out later. He just had to survive for now. He had to get out. Still, at the back of his mind, there was a nagging voice that told him he hadn’t seen his face since he got to the studio. The mirror in Boris’ safehouse had been too warped to display anything properly. When he met up with Allison and Thomas, they didn’t act like anything was wrong, so he just assumed that he was imagining things. Until that was, he got to Allison and Thomas’ safehouse. They had sort of a mirror in a corner. It was shattered to Hell, but it worked enough that Henry could finally see his face. And what he saw chilled him to his very core. 

“What the….?” He whispered, raising a hand, a gloved hand, to his face. Half of his face resembled that of Bendy the Dancing Demon, the perfect version at least. Half his mouth turned up in a permanent grin, and his hair had rearranged itself to look like a set of horns. 

“So you noticed,” Thomas said. 

“We didn’t know whether or not to tell you,” Allison said, looking at least a little sympathetic. 

“Am I….I’m becoming Bendy, aren’t I?” 

“Well, you make a more perfect version than Joey, at least.” Thomas patted his back. 

“You created Bendy, right?” Allison drew closer, putting her hands on Henry’s shoulders. “It only makes sense that the ink would try to make you Bendy.” Henry nodded numbly. He was becoming Bendy. It all made sense now. Why he was shorter, why he kept being brought back. Joey wanted to make him into a perfect Bendy. 

“Will it hurt?” He asked weakly. “Becoming him?”

“I don’t think so.” Allison shook her head. “I would have thought the horns would be the most painful part, but you seem fine. So it will probably be painless.”

“Okay.” At least he wasn’t going to end up like the Lost Ones or the Searchers. But still, it scared him. He wasn’t human anymore. 

“It’s a scary thought, knowing you’re not human,” Allison said. “But we’re here for you, Henry. We’re in the same position.”

“T-Thanks,” Henry mumbled. 

“You’ll be alright,” Thomas said, glancing back at Henry. “We got through it and you will too. But right now we have to come up with a plan to take down Drew.” 

“Of course.” Henry nodded, trying to put his current situation from his mind. He had to take down Joey and get out of here.


	85. Chapter 85

**[liliflower137](https://liliflower137.tumblr.com/) asked: After defeating FrankenBoris, his ink melts away, revealing a dying janitor, struggling to breathe. It looks like he might have a few last words...**

Henry had always sort of known that the Boris he’d met was Wally. There were too many similarities for it not to be the case. He knelt beside Wally, taking the other man’s hand in his. 

“Hey…Henry.” Wally managed a weary smile. 

“Hey, Wally.” Henry smiled back, feeling tears welling up in his eyes. “How’s it going?”

“Could be…better.” Wally let out a wheezy laugh. “Wish I…hadn’t got my insides…scooped.”

“Yeah, me too.” Henry squeezed his hand. Wally grinned, weak though it might have been. His freckles stood starkly out against his paling skin. Henry had a strong urge to gather the janitor up and hold him close to his chest.

“Why won’t you just die?!” He suddenly heard Alice screech. Henry scooted away, gathering Wally in his arms. Alice came running out of the exit but never reached them. She was quickly dispatched by another Alice, one who looked distinctly disheveled. Accompanying her was a Boris with a mechanical arm. 

“Are you alright?” The other Alice asked. 

“Been better.” Wally gave a shaky thumbs up. 

“You’re going to die, aren’t you?” Henry looked down at Wally. 

“Probably.” The other Boris said, his voice low and gravelly. 

“Thomas!” The other Alice swatted at the Boris’ shoulder. 

“What? I’m being honest.” Thomas rubbed his shoulder. “No use sugarcoating it, Allison.” Well, at least Henry had names for the faces now. 

“I’ll be fine.” Wally tried to assure Henry. “It’ll all be fine.”

“You’re dying!” Tears began to drip down Henry’s face. Wally had been a good friend to him during his time at the studio. He didn’t want the janitor to have to suffer for Henry’s mistakes. 

“It’ll be alright.” Wally’s gaze was growing unfocused, his breathing slowing.

“Stay with me! Please!” Henry begged. 

“Just…Get outta here.” Wally smiled vaguely at Henry. “For me.” Then he closed his eyes. After a moment or two, he stopped moving. Henry held Wally’s body close, starting to sob.

“I’m sorry,” Allison said. Henry didn’t reply.


	86. Chapter 86

**[liliflower137](https://liliflower137.tumblr.com/) asked: Last one: Henry living on the surface with the lost ones. They are his children his is their dad. Fluff all around.**

This was partially inspired by [@throughbloodandink](https://tmblr.co/muIui0uE28tzhFDKq_DxoWQ)

* * *

Linda hadn’t been sure how to react when her father had shown up with a large group of strange ink creatures, one of whom was wearing suspenders that reminded her quite a bit of her father’s old coworker Sammy Lawrence. He’d been gone for nearly a week after heading back to the studio, leaving her to watch his house. She’d been on the verge of calling the police to report him missing. 

“Dad?”

“Hi, sweetheart.” He smiled tiredly. 

“That’s Linda?” The creature in the suspenders asked. “Good Lord, she’s gotten big.”

“Mr. Lawrence?” Linda squinted at the ink creature. “Is that you?” It didn’t really look like him, but the voice definitely sounded like him. And the suspenders did remind her of him. The ink creature perked up, as did a few of the others. 

“I didn’t think she’d recognize me.” He said, looking around at the others. 

“Yeah, that’s Sammy,” Henry said. 

“Dad, want to explain what’s going on?” Linda gave her father a pointed look. 

“I’d be happy to.” Henry nodded and walked in. Linda stepped aside to let the ink creatures enter as well. The one in the suspenders, the one she now knew was Sammy, paused when he got to her. 

“Thank you.” He said. 

“For what?” She asked. 

“For recognizing me.” He walked in without giving her a chance to respond. Linda sighed to herself and shut the door, following them in. They all assembled in the living room and Henry told his daughter everything that had happened.

“So…They’re just going to be living here from now on?” Linda asked when Henry was done.

“Yep.” Henry nodded. “Although, I am going to go back to get everyone else. I just needed to get these people out first.”

“Thank you again for that,” Sammy said. Henry just patted his hand. Linda sighed. Her father had always been too kind for his own good. Looking around at the ink creatures though, she could understand why he’d taken them. They seemed so lost, so scared. 

“Alright.” She said. “I’ll help take care of them.”

“You don’t have to-”

“No, I’m going to.” She folded her arms. “They need help, right?”

“They do,” Henry admitted. 

“Then I’ll be there to help.” That was the end of the discussion. Linda came by every day to check on the Lost Ones and her father. It took the Lost Ones a bit to settle in, but they eventually did. Granted, they still had issues. Almost every day, someone had a panic attack or broke down crying. The going was slow but they weren’t giving up. Sammy sometimes sang to those who were having a hard time, something Linda had never seen him do before. Apparently, his time in the studio softened him. Henry would also hold those having panic attacks who’d crave physical contact. 

“I remember when you’d do that when I was little,” Linda said. 

“Yeah, it reminds me of when you were little too.” Henry agreed, closing the door to the bedroom.

“You really are way too nice for your own good, Dad.” Linda shook her head, unable to keep herself from smiling. “They’re lucky to have you.”

“And I’m lucky to have you.” He pulled her into a hug. “Thank you so much for helping.”

“Well, they were always nice to me at the studio.” Linda shrugged slightly. “I figure they deserve to be treated well too.”

“You’ve got a big heart too, honey.” 

Downstairs, Sammy hummed to himself, plucking at his banjo. They really were lucky to have been taken in by Henry. He shouldn’t have worshipped Bendy for so long. Henry was the true savior. Him and his daughter. 


	87. Chapter 87

**[nightfurywitch-deactivated20180](https://nightfurywitch-deactivated20180.tumblr.com/) asked: I was scrolling through your old batim fic and came across the autistic sammy one i requested forever ago, and was wondering if i could get another? Maybe ink monster sammy stimming or having sensory issues?**

I’d be happy to do this. I’ve based this mostly on my own experience with sensory issues. 

* * *

Sammy liked the quiet. Certain noises just made him either really angry or want to cry. It was why he’d always been so upset with his coworkers all the time, and especially with Joey about the pump switch. He just wanted to have a sanctuary where he didn’t have to worry about all the noises and bustle of the studio. It just all got so overwhelming. Things had gotten so much worse now that he was an ink creature. It was never quiet anymore. There were always voice all the time. Voices screaming, begging to be set free. When Sammy wasn’t putting up cutouts, he was crying in his office, hands over his ears, begging for it to stop.

“Please,” he sobbed. “I just want it to stop. Please make it stop!” His lord had to be listening. He had to be. Sammy rocked back and forth, patting his hands on his legs. Sometimes that helped him. Sometimes it just made things worse. In this case, it was just winding him up. He just wanted it to stop. Why wouldn’t it stop? 

“Get out of my head.” He muttered, banging his fists against the sides of his head. “Get out!” When he’d done this while still human, it had hurt. Susie had always tried to calm him down when he got this wound up. But Susie wasn’t there now. And it didn’t hurt anymore. He couldn’t feel much of anything physical anymore. He was just cold all the time. He slumped against the wall again, curling up into a ball and continuing to sob.

“My Lord, please, set me free from this torment.” He begged. “I’ve been so diligent! I’ve done everything you asked of me!” But no one answered. No one ever did. The only sounds were the dripping of the ink, and the voices in his mind. 


	88. Remember

[@halfusek](https://tmblr.co/mAf3vdzc4wXYCzWCxKkU7dA) did a really good [comic](https://halfusek.tumblr.com/post/173903339999) and I wanted to write something for it. 

* * *

Boris whimpered, strapped to the table. He was terrified. He didn’t want to die. Not when Henry was still out there. Henry needed help. Henry needed him! Alice had been walking around the room, getting everything ready. She’d been humming.  _ ~~Just like Susie used to~~._   Now, it seemed as though she had everything she needed. Alice reached for the bone in his mouth, but the wolf growled and turned his head away. 

“Just give it up already,” Alice said, trying to wrench the bone away from him. She knew the bone was a comfort item for him. She didn’t want him to have any comfort, any indication of happiness. Boris screwed his eyes shut and held on tight to the bone. He couldn’t let her take the bone. He couldn’t! Henry had given it to him and he wasn’t about to let her take it away. 

_Wally opened his eyes. He was honestly a little surprised. He didn’t regain his own consciousness too terribly often. Why now? Why here?_

_“W-Wally…?” That sounded like Susie’s voice. He turned his head, almost afraid of what he’d find. Standing next to him was Susie. Her hair was covering her face, but he could hear the soft sound of her sobs.  
_

_“….Susie?” He asked, his voice soft. Tears were running down her cheeks as she looked up.  
_

_“I’m so sorry.” She sobbed._

Alice hesitated, her hand inches from the bone. It was shaking as she stood there. Then she withdrew it. Damn Susie and her weakness. She would be perfect, no matter what Susie tried to do.

“Fine.” She said. “I don’t get why you’re so stubborn about it. It’s not like it’s going to matter in a few minutes.” She picked up the ax she’d taken from Henry, smiling maniacally. 

_Susie stared down at Wally on the table. She didn’t want to do this. She didn’t want to be Alice anymore. It had been a mistake to trust Joey. She should have just moved on like everyone else._

_“Henry.” Wally suddenly said.  
_

_“What?” Susie looked up so her eyes met Wally’s.  
_

_“Henry gave it to me.” Wally said, smiling softly. “He was so nice. It was so nice.” He turned to stare at the ceiling, his eyes unfocused as he tried to collect his thoughts. “He…It…” Then his eyes went wide and he began to scream. “IT HURTS! IT HURTS! IT HURTS **IT͠ ̶H̷U͡RT̛S͘ ̴I͏T ͝HU͝RTS̶ ͠IT ̶HUR̡TS!̡** ”_

Alice lifted the ax and let it fell over and over and over. Boris’ rib cage was split open, revealing his internal organs. Alice kept chopping and chopping and chopping, black blood flying everywhere.

_“NO!!! STOP HURTING HIM!” Susie screamed, covering her face with her hands. “Please…I-I…I don’t want to be perfect. I…I… **I ̢JU̡S͝T̢ ̨WA̷NT͟ TO̷ D͟IE҉**.͞ “ _

Boris laid still, black blood pooling around him on the table. His eyes had formed little x’s since he was technically dead according to toon rules. 

**_W̙̞͕͍H̠Y̗͔̲_ **

_The pain was so intense, he almost wanted to pass out. Death would be a mercy at this point._

_“Why.” Wally groaned. “I’m hardly ever sentient. Why now?” And just like that, he was back in the blackness. Tears began to well up in his eyes. He hated it when this happened, when he was forced back into the darkness, the place between places where he didn’t even know who he was.  
_

_“Ha…Ha…And I’m….gone…again…” He laughed and sat up, trying to wipe the tears away. “A-At least I sa-aw Su-u-usie a-and she…She seemed almost like from before. It was…It was good to….remember….” He paused and looked down at what was sitting on the ground before him. It was a bone, yellowed with age. He recognized this bone, he was sure of it._

_“Huh? What is it…doing here?” He said, picking it up. “I don’t…I can’t…” Vague flashes of images went through his mind. A poster. A scorecard with names at the top of it. Henry…  
_

_“Ugh! Come on, Franks, focus!” He muttered to himself. “I-I….I…”  
_

_**I WIS̴H̢͝** _

_**I ͝C͏ƠUL̶D R͟E͏M̨E͢M͡BER** _


	89. Meant To Be Yours

So I wanted to write something with @throughbloodandink ‘s Henry and Joey due to [this](https://throughbloodandink.tumblr.com/post/173862737868/also-joey-drew-has-the-same-initials-as-jd-and-im) post. I debated about whether or not to make them teenagers, but I decided to just have it fit into the main kind of story. So here’s some power mad Joey and pissed off Henry.

* * *

It had been 30 years, and Henry was finally back. Joey could barely contain his excitement. He’d waited so long for Henry to return. Now they could make up and things could go back to the way they’d been before. Henry would love him again. He was sure of it. Unfortunately, Henry had taken one look at the inky monstrosity Joey had become and locked himself in one of the storage closets. Joey leaned against the door, claws gouging out little pieces of the wood. 

“Henry~” He said in an almost sing-song voice. “Henry, I know we’ve had our differences, but I really do want to make things right.”

“Go away, Joey!” Henry yelled from inside. “I don’t want to talk to you!”

“You’re still angry about the way we left things. I can understand that. I was angry too. I’ve moved on, though. I forgive you for the way you acted. I forgive you for the way you threw me out like garbage.” Joey gritted his teeth at the memory, claws digging in deeper. He’d been thrown aside like he was nothing. The former studio head took a moment to compose himself, taking a deep breath and plastering his usual smile on his face. 

“I see now that it wasn’t your fault.” He continued, resting his cheek against the wood in an attempt to be closer to Henry. “The world turned you against me. It twisted your mind, made you blind. Why else would you go off with  _that_  woman? But don’t worry! I can set you free! I can set everyone free!”

“I don’t need to be set free, Joey.” Henry snapped. “Especially not by you.”

“But don’t you know how much you mean to me?” Joey wheedled, voice soft as silk and twice as inviting. “I was devastated when you left me, Henry. I thought my world was ending. But it was for the best. You showed me the way, Henry!”

“What…What way?” Henry sounded almost shaken. Joey tried to suppress the giddy giggle that bubbled up at the thought.

“The world drove us apart,” Joey whispered, tracing patterns in the wood of the door. “They wouldn’t let us be together. So I’ll change the world. Everyone will bow to me. No one will ever question me again. The Ink will see to that.”

“You can’t just enslave people!” 

“Of course I can. This is the only way to make sure we’ll never be apart again.” Joey laughed, pressing himself against the door. “I was meant to be yours! We were meant to be one! Don’t give up on me now! Finish what we’ve begun!”

“Joey, you can’t do this!”

“But I already have,” Joey said. “You remember Murray Hill, don’t you? He helped me spread the influence of the ink. Soon everyone will be under my spell. You helped me do that.” Henry was silent for the longest time, and Joey was almost afraid he’d frightened him. 

“It will be alright.” Joey tried to assure him. “We’ll rule together. We can be happy again, Henry.” 

“You’re insane.” Henry said, his voice devoid of all emotion. “I don’t want this. I don’t want any of them.”

“We were meant to be together, Henry!” Joey pounded his fists against the door, his voice becoming deep and distorted. “I was meant to be yours! We were meant to be one! I can’t take it alone! Finish what we’ve begun! YOU WERE MEANT TO BE MINE! I AM ALL THAT YOU NEED! YOU CARVED OPEN MY HEART! CAN’T JUST LEAVE ME TO BLEED!” Joey took a step back, taking a moment to compose himself again. 

“Henry, please open the door.” His voice returned to its normal state. “I don’t want to fight anymore, Henry. Can we not fight anymore? I know you’re scared. I’ve been there. I can set you free!” He waited for a moment but got no response from Henry. He was beginning to lose his patience again. 

“Don’t make me come in there, Henry,” Joey growled. “I will give you to the count of three. One. Two. Three-”

The door burst open and Henry came out swinging. 


	90. Actual Disney Princess Sammy Wes

So, I submitted a headcanon for [@falseprotagonistsofbatim](https://tmblr.co/mejQ4GGMoMh3unuAUTjfIOg) [here](http://queenofcats17.tumblr.com/post/174070935665/sammy-wes-is-good-with-animals-no-one-knows), and now I have to write actual Disney Princess Sammy Wes.

* * *

Sammy Wes Lawrence was an actual Disney Princess. Wally had seen him sing and have birds alight on his shoulders. He had insisted upon telling anyone who would listen after he saw it happen. He hadn’t been able to believe that someone could actually do that kind of stuff. No one believed the janitor, at least at first. Sure, they’d seen him be good with cats and stuff, but there was no way he could actually attract animals with the sound of his voice, right? But one day, on a company picnic, they all saw that Wally had been right. 

Joey had insisted the employees of the studio go out on a picnic, for team building and all that. It wasn’t too bad, really. There was food, they were out in a park. It was rather nice, actually. Joey was in a good mood, as well. It helped that they’d all managed to drag Henry along. Sammy, however, wasn’t in the best of moods. He’d been taken away from his work when he was in the middle of an important song. He was sitting under a tree, pouting. 

“Geez, what’s got you all sour?” Wally asked, walking over. 

“I was in the middle of writing a song,” Sammy muttered, folding his arms. “It was a big one too.”

“C’mon.” Wally sat down beside him. “This is a picnic! Have a little fun!”

“I’d rather finish what I was doing.”

“If you’re gonna be like this, I’m gonna go sit with Shawn.” Wally got up and wandered away to find Shawn. Sammy was honestly a little disappointed. He’d hoped Wally would stay. Oh well.

“Sammy Wes!” Joey boomed, hobbling his way over to where Sammy sat under the tree. “Why the long face?”

“I was in the middle of writing a song,” Sammy answered. “Kinda wanted to finish it.” His anger had faded by this point, and he was more tired than anything else. He didn’t really like big social gatherings. 

“Why don’t you play it for me?” Joey pulled out a banjo from behind his back and handed it to the musician.

“Why were you carrying a banjo?” Sammy asked, although he did take the instrument.

“Franks might have mentioned you were looking dour.” Joey shrugged slightly. “I thought playing a song might cheer you up!”

“That’s…thanks.” Sammy smiled. He made sure the banjo was in tune before starting to play the song. Joey levered himself to the ground to listen, smiling brightly. Sammy played through the song before looking to Joey. 

“Very nice!” Joey nodded. “Got any other songs you want to play?” Cheering Sammy up wasn’t the only reason he’d gotten Sammy the banjo. He’d heard the rumors of Sammy’s supposed abilities with animals. He wanted to see for himself if they were true. 

“You want to hear more? Alright.” Sammy shrugged and started playing another song, one with lyrics this time. He attracted a small crowd of picnic goers. He had a nice voice, after all. He took request after request, drawing more and more people. And soon, animals started appearing as well. Birds alighted on the tree branches above Sammy, along with some squirrels. Bunnies popped their heads out of their holes. The studio employees were flabberghasted. 

“I told you he could do that!” Wally whooped. “I told all of you!” He was then dragged down by Shawn, who hissed that he should be quieter. 

“I didn’t think the rumors were actually true.” Joey nodded slowly, leaning on his cane. 

“There are rumors about this?” Henry asked. Sammy stopped playing and frowned. 

“What are you talking about?” He asked. 

“Have you noticed the animals around you?” Joey asked, laughing slightly. “You’re a bonafide Disney Princess.” Sammy looked around at the birds, squirrels, and rabbits. 

“I mean, that sort of thing does tend to happen.” He shrugged, as though this was normal.

“It’s happened before?” Henry asked, a bit taken aback. 

“Yeah. Never really thought anything of it.” Sammy said. 

“Huh.” Henry blinked. “I….Huh.” He couldn’t think of much else to say.


	91. Edgar

So due to posts like these ([X ](https://thebutchergang.tumblr.com/post/174163544016/sometimes-i-feel-like-i-can-remember-a-voice-a) [X](https://thebutchergang.tumblr.com/post/174225381826/where-are-michael-and-angela-where-are-michael) [X](https://thebutchergang.tumblr.com/post/174178466001/i-wa-nt-my-life-back)) from [@thebutchergang](https://tmblr.co/mYxYVc-4z13WDC5PVQc7lNw) and [@pipesflowforeverandever](https://tmblr.co/m2zmumMEKoKDrJDlESd5txQ) ’s [fic](https://pipesflowforeverandever.tumblr.com/post/174191887483/stars-hey-so-i-regularly-harass-thebutchergang), I’m going to write some Edgar. 

* * *

Edgar lived a simple life. He wandered the corridors of the lower levels, he watched the dumpster fire in one of the rooms, he ate bacon soup. It was a simple life. He spent a lot of time with his friends. Barley and Charley were nice. Charley spent a lot of time in the walls and Barley had a thing about mermaids. They were nice. Edgar liked them a lot. Sometimes Edgar got cans thrown at him. That wasn’t so nice. The man who threw the cans didn’t stick around too long though. Edgar wanted to steal his teeth. The man with the cans had nice teeth. He forgot about the man as soon as the man left, though. Edgar didn’t have a good memory. Neither did Barley or Charley. The people in the big room remembered better than them, but the people didn’t like talking to Edgar. Edgar left them alone most of the time. They weren’t fun to be around. Neither was the man in the weird machine. The weird man in the machine always yelled about someone named Drew. The name rang a bell in Edgar’s mind, but it was usually gone by the time Edgar started to think about it. 

A lot of things made Edgar feel as though he was…wrong. Like there was something else he used to be. Sometimes he remembered a voice, a different voice. And a body, different from the one he had now. One that was taller and more solid. One where he only had two arms. He remembered glasses for some reason. Sometimes he’d wake up in a cold sweat, (How was he sweating? He didn’t have sweat glands) gasping for air and crying out in a voice he didn’t have for people whose names he didn’t recognize. 

_Michael_

_Angela_

Those names hurt his head. He didn’t understand why it hurt and he wanted it to stop. He didn’t want to think about the strange names. But they kept coming back, no matter how hard he resisted. It was as though there was someone deep inside him, trying desperately to claw their way out from the muddled cesspool of Edgar’s mind.

_Where are Michael and Angela?_

_Where are Michael and Angela?_

_WHERE ARE MY MICHAEL AND ANGELA?  
_

_**I WANT MY LIFE BACK** _

Certain names made his head hurt even more. The man with the cans knew the names. Grant Cohen. Joey Drew. Edgar didn’t know why those names made his head hurt so much. He always ran away if the man with the cans said those names, or tried to hit the man. The man easily outmaneuvered Edgar, though. Something about the man always seemed so familiar. Edgar just couldn’t put his finger on it. Oh well, it didn’t matter anyway. He’d forget in a moment anyway. What had he been thinking about? 


	92. Bendy's Plan

[@ask-joeydrewstudios](https://tmblr.co/mEKj2fvdY3Z3PdYpAcyK9pw) put out a new [post](https://ask-joeydrewstudios.tumblr.com/post/174824319018/headcannon-that-dianne-visited-the-studio-while) and it was too cute not to write.

* * *

Bendy didn’t understand babies, and Dianne knew this perfectly well. She’d come to visit Henry at the studio, four months pregnant, and had immediately been greeted by Bendy. He looked curiously up at her. 

“Why’s your stomach so big?” He asked. For a moment, terror flashed through Dianne’s mind. Had Joey explained to the toons what pregnancy was? She didn’t want to start a whole thing with this. 

“I’m pregnant.” She finally said, smiling down at the little toon. 

“What’s that?” Bendy tilted his head to the side, frowning slightly. 

“It means I’m going to have a baby.”

“But why’s your belly so big?” Bendy’s frown deepened and he folded his arms petulantly. 

“There’s a baby in it.”

“How did you get a baby in there?”

“It’s a long story.” 

Bendy seemed like he wanted to ask more questions, but the look Dianne was giving him told him that she didn’t want to answer any more of them. He pouted slightly, then seemed to get an idea. 

“I wanna talk to the baby.” He announced, taking Dianne’s hand. “Gotta make sure they know who their favorite toon is gonna be.” He took Dianne into the break room and hopped up onto a table, looking down at her stomach. 

“Okay, baby.” He folded his arms. “You don’t know me yet, but I’m gonna be your favorite character.” 

“Oh really?” Dianne raised an eyebrow. “And why is that, Bendy?”

“Because I’m the star of the show!” Bendy put his hands on his hops. “Never mind what Alice or Sammy or anyone says -you don’t know ‘em yet but you will- I’m the **best**  toon there is! Why else would they name the whole darn show after me? I’m adorable! Not to mention hilarious…” 

He spent the whole afternoon trying to win the baby over, much to Dianne’s glee. Bendy was just so adorable when he was excited. When Henry came to get her, Bendy gave her a plush of himself, insisting that she had to give it to the baby. 

“They gotta know I’m the best.” He insisted. 

“I’ll make sure they know.” Dianne laughed softly, holding the plush to her chest. 

“Thanks for keeping him occupied all day,” Henry whispered as he and Dianne went out to the car. “Sammy definitely had an easier time without Bendy playing pranks.”

“It was no problem,” Dianne said. “It was really cute. I’m sure the baby will love him once it’s born.”

“Let’s just hope the baby doesn’t turn out like Bendy, though.” Henry laughed nervously. “I don’t think I could deal with two of them.”

“We’ll manage.”


	93. Prompts??? Yes??

> Submitted by Anon
> 
> -You once wrote a story about Boris and Henry and Henry had died and Boris sat with his body. Maybe a continuation with Boris trying to cope with Henry’s death by himself?
> 
> -Sammy reformed after being killed by bendy. And he is so scared.
> 
> -“ I love you” he said as he held him close slowly rocking him back and forth. “But why? I tried to… And bendy” he sobbed quietly. (Maybe Sammy x Jack but can be anything really)
> 
> -Tom!Boris comforts Henry after Wally/Boris death scence.

Sorry this took so long.

* * *

Boris sat with Henry’s body for a long time before he finally realized that Henry wasn’t coming back. Once that happened, he started to panic. Henry couldn’t die! Henry was going to save them all! He couldn’t just let Henry die like this! The wolf began to pace the length of the hallway, glancing at Henry’s body every so often. He had to do something. He had to fix this somehow. 

_The Ink Machine_

The thought slid into his mind with cold clarity. The Ink Machine could bring Henry back. He’d seen it happen before. It had brought Sammy back, hadn’t it? Boris brightened at this. He could bring Henry back and everything would be alright! Boris picked Henry up and headed for the Ink Machine room, humming to himself. Henry would be so proud of him for figuring out a solution to this situation. Henry would definitely praise him. Everything would be fine. Boris put Henry under the spigot and turned it on, letting the ink flow over Henry’s body. Then the wolf stood back and waited patiently. Unfortunately, the creature that emerged from the ink was not Henry. At least, not the Henry Boris had hoped it would be. 

.

.

With a shaking gasp, Sammy pulled himself from the puddle he’d been reduced to. His mind was racing. He’d been wrong. He’d been so so wrong. Bendy wasn’t his savior. Bendy had  _destroyed_  him. Sammy reformed himself, putting his overalls back on, and sat in the booth rocking back and forth for a few minutes. How could he have been so wrong? Once he’d finally calmed himself down, he went into the sewers beneath the Music Department. Bendy never went down there. Bendy wouldn’t find him there. He’d be safe. Would he? Thankfully, it did seem as though Bendy was more interested in the lamb Sammy had caught. Sammy was left alone in the sewers. He found himself rather glad he didn’t currently have the ability to smell. Jack had always talked about how these sewers stunk to high Heaven. Speaking of Jack…Where was the lyricist?

“Jack?” He called out tentatively. He didn’t know if Jack would even want anything to do with him anymore. After all he’d done…Why would Jack want to see him again? A moment or two later, though, a head popped up from the ink. 

“Sammy?” Jack’s voice came from the inky creature as it pulled itself up and out of the ink. Sammy just about burst into tears. 

“You lost your hat.”

“Some asshole dropped a crate on me.” Jack shrugged. “I have to go back and get the hat. Anyway, what’s up?”

“I just…I needed to see you.” Sammy shrugged slightly. Jack tilted his head to the side. 

“Is something wrong? You’re not acting the way you usually do.” 

Sammy hunched his shoulders, starting to fidget with his hands. He’d never get used to the fact that he only had four fingers now. 

“I was wrong, Jack.” He said after a moment or two. “I was so wrong. I never should have trusted Bendy.” 

“Oh, Sammy.” Jack gently lowered Sammy to the ground and wrapped his arms around the music director. Sammy started to cry, burying his face in his hands. 

“Everything I did! It was all for nothing! I’m a monster!”

“You’re not a monster,” Jack assured him. “You were just misguided. We’re all victims here.” 

“Why are you being so nice?” Sammy asked, looking at him. 

“I love you,” Jack said as he held him close, slowly rocking him back and forth. 

“But why? I tried to…And Bendy.” Sammy sobbed quietly. 

“Like I said. We’re all victims.” Jack patted Sammy’s back. “Besides, I had a crush on you even before all this happened.”

“Really?” 

“I mean, pretty much everyone at this studio was hot back in the day, but you were the always the hottest to me.” Jack laughed quietly. 

“Well, I wouldn’t say I was  _that_ attractive.” Sammy instinctively reached up to brush some hair behind his ear, stopping abruptly when his situation caught up with him. He sunk down, his body starting to melt. 

“No. Don’t you do that.” Jack scolded him, raising him up. “We’re going to get through this together, Sammy. Okay?”

“Okay…” Sammy couldn’t help but smile a little. At least he still had Jack.

.

.

Thomas had never been the best with human interactions. But he knew he needed to do something now. Henry was kneeling over the puddle of ink that had been another Boris, one Henry had presumably spent a lot of time with. Thomas looked over at Allison, who jerked her head towards Henry. Thomas sighed and rolled his eyes. 

“Hey.” He walked over and put a hand on Henry’s shoulder. Not his mechanical one, that one wasn’t good for comforting people. Henry said nothing. 

“I’m, uh, I’m sorry about your friend.” Thomas cleared his throat. Henry didn’t answer, just staring intently at the ink. Thomas exhaled through his teeth. 

“If it makes you feel better, he’s probably not dead.”

“What?” Henry looked up abruptly, eyes widening. 

“We can’t really die,” Thomas explained. “Our souls are tied to the ink. You might have destroyed his physical form, but he can’t escape this place. Not yet.”

“So I can get him back,” Henry concluded, brightening a bit at this idea.

“Yeah. Sure.” 

“You’re the worst at comforting people, Thomas.” Allison deadpanned. 

“Hey, at least I’m tryin’.”


	94. Chapter 94

**[liliflower137](https://liliflower137.tumblr.com/) asked: Have you seen @islandguardiantapumeme's trainwreck AU? I helped with the Eldrich Henry part of it (he's the cutest baby lovecraftian horror) and I was wondering if you could write something cute with him and Joey? (They have a sort of father son relationship, and Henry is very timid. He hides in any nearby container or even cracks in walls and floors at the first sign of danger)**

I have seen this AU and I love it.

* * *

Joey sighed heavily as he stared at the wrecked kitchen. Apparently leaving for five minutes was too much for Henry.

“Henry? Where are you?” He asked, beginning to search the kitchen for his friend. He found Henry hiding in an empty peanut butter jar on the floor. The jar had rolled under the counter and Joey picked it up. 

“There you are.” He smiled and uncapped the jar, watching as Henry drifted out. 

“Sorry about the kitchen,” Henry mumbled, two tendrils pressing together almost sheepishly. “I heard a noise and I panicked.”

“It’s alright,” Joey assured him, patting the mass of shadow on what he thought would approximately be his head. Henry burrowed into Joey’s arms, taking comfort in the solid weight of Joey. 

“Are you hungry?” Joey asked. Henry nodded, or at least did something that resembled a nod. Joey let go of him and started making breakfast. Eggs and bacon was the simplest option. Henry floated behind him, watching intently. 

“Can we have spaghetti for dinner?” He asked. Henry really liked spaghetti for some reason that escaped both him and Joey. Maybe because it reminded him of himself? 

“We can do that.” Joey nodded as he flipped the bacon. Henry brightened, two tendrils wrapping around Joey’s body and holding him close. 

“Thank you, Joey.” Henry chirped. Joey still wasn’t sure how Henry made noises despite not having a mouth or larynx, but he was too tired to question any of it by this point.

Once the food was done, Joey dished up two plates and sat down at the table to eat. Henry basically inhaled his, as he always did when he ate, while Joey picked at his food quietly.

“Is something wrong?” Henry asked. 

“I’m just not that hungry.” Joey shrugged. 

“…Can I have your food, then?”

Joey laughed softly. “Yes, you can have my food.”


	95. Grandpa Drew

At [@ask-joeydrewstudios](https://tmblr.co/mEKj2fvdY3Z3PdYpAcyK9pw) , Henry and Dianne’s baby has been [born](https://ask-joeydrewstudios.tumblr.com/post/174918489855/june-15th-1938-benjamin-andrew-batim-is-born) and I wanted to write something for it. 

* * *

Joey was so happy he could barely contain himself. He was a  _grandfather_. He didn’t care about anything else. He was a  _ **grandfather**_. He was on his way to the hospital right now along with a good portion of the studio crew to visit Henry and Dianne. Joey had been relegated to the backseat with the toons since his head was too far in the clouds to drive. Bendy was practically bouncing off the walls of the car. He was ecstatic to meet the baby. He’d never seen a baby before! Alice was trying to calm him down, but it wasn’t really working. Boris was equally excited, his tail thumping back and forth. 

“This is gonna be great!” Wally was saying as they sped along the highway. “Babies are always really cute. Not sure why Sammy wanted to come, though.”

“Contrary to popular belief, I’m not a monster.” Sammy rolled his eyes as he turned into the parking lot. “I like children.”

“You  _like_  children?” Wally asked incredulously. 

“He’s rather actually good with children,” Susie said. “You should see him with a child.” Sammy flushed and muttered something about Susie sharing too much. Wally snickered as they got out which caused Sammy to slap the back of his head. Joey practically floated through the doors and up the stairs. 

 _I’m a grandfather_ , he kept saying to himself. Bendy was at Joey’s heels, bouncing up and down and only barely reigned in by Boris and Alice. 

“Alright, they’re in room 309,” Sammy said. Joey hummed to himself, heading in that direction with the toons at his heels.

“It’s weird seeing Joey this happy,” Wally whispered. “He’s been so quiet.”

“I think it’s sweet.” Susie giggled softly. “This is really important to him.”  

“I’m happy for him.” Sammy couldn’t help but smile. He took Susie’s hand, squeezing it. The two of them also wanted to have children someday, but they knew now wasn’t the right time. By the time Wally, Sammy, and Susie reached the hospital room, Joey and the toons were already in the room crowded around Dianne and the baby. Henry was seated in a chair next to the bed looking completely wiped out.

“Do you want to hold him?” Dianne asked, looking up at Joey. Joey’s eyes widened. 

“I wanna hold him too!” Bendy whined as Joey took Benjamin from his mother’s arms. Joey stared down into the baby’s eyes. He was so small. Benjamin squinted up at Joey, making little cooing noises. Joey’s heart melted. 

“Hey there, little guy.” He whispered. “I’m your Grandpa Drew.” Benjamin stared up at him, then started to grab at Joey’s finger while making babbling noises. Joey exhaled sharply, tears starting to well up in his eyes. 

“I think the baby broke Joey,” Wally said loudly.

“Let him have this moment.” Sammy put a hand on Wally’s shoulder, his voice coming out much softer than any of them had expected. 

“He likes you already.” Dianne smiled wearily. 

“I knew he would.” Henry smiled as well, taking off his glasses to clean them on his shirt. Joey handed Benjamin back to Dianne, trying to wipe away the tears that were welling up. 

“Papa Drew, why’re you crying?” Bendy asked, suddenly very worried. 

“Is somethin’ wrong?” Boris’ tail went between his legs. 

“I think he’s just really happy,” Alice said, trying to reassure her brothers. 

“I’m fine.” Joey nodded, covering his face. “It’s like she said. I’m…This is amazing.” No one could take this away from him. This was one of the happiest moments of his life. 


	96. Chapter 96

**[liliflower137](https://liliflower137.tumblr.com/) asked: Sorry for not being very specific, but could you do more with Eldrich Henry? You wrote him perfectly!**

Sammy wasn’t sure what he’d expected when he heard someone enter the studio again. He certainly hadn’t expected to see a strange eldritch creature with at least a dozen eyes and a form like a cloud. He stood on the balcony, watching the creature float around and play the necessary instruments to open his sanctuary. He had a sudden feeling that he really shouldn’t mess with this creature. He took a step back and a board creaked loudly. The creature looked up abruptly, looking ready to bolt. It relaxed when it saw Sammy, though.

“Sammy?” 

Wait…He knew that voice. 

“Henry?” 

“Sammy!” Henry floated up to him, looking rather excited. “It’s so good to see you!”

“It’s….good to see you too.” Sammy nodded slowly. 

“Why do you look like that?” Henry did something that might have been a head tilt, although Sammy wasn’t sure.

“I called the Ink Machine the Kink Machine and got sacrificed.” 

“Oh.” Henry snorted slightly. “That’s, um, seems a little petty.”

“Joey is a petty bitch.”

“I HEARD THAT!” Joey yelled from somewhere else in the studio. Henry laughed quietly, wiping away some tears with one tentacle. 

“I guess some things don’t change.” He said. Sammy wasn’t sure whether or not to ask if Henry had always looked that way. Would Henry be offended? 

“You’ve been quiet for an awfully long time,” Henry said, doing the head tilt thing again. “Are you alright.”

“Oh, um, yeah. I’m fine.” Sammy nodded. “What…What are you doing here?”

“I got a letter from Joey,” Henry answered. “I missed him a lot.”

“He’s in his office.” Sammy started to descend the stairs, gesturing for Henry to follow him. “Hasn’t left it in 30 years. Doesn’t notice anything around him.” Henry floated after him, humming to himself. Sammy wasn’t sure if he should bring this up to Joey, but he had a lot he wanted to ask the former studio head. 


	97. Ben's Favorite

More baby Batim for @ask-joeydrewstudios

To offset the angst war. 

* * *

The first time Benjamin Batim was brought to the studio, Bendy was ecstatic. He wanted more than anything to be this baby’s favorite, and he was determined that he was going to achieve his goal. 

“I talked to the little guy first,” Bendy said, puffing out his chest as everyone gathered in the break room for the party. “So I’m gonna be his favorite.”

“I’m sure he’ll love you.” Joey patted the little demon’s head.

“You can’t for sure that you’ll be his favorite,” Alice said, giving Bendy a withering look. 

“I talked to him first,” Bendy repeated, glaring back at her. 

“Yes, but  _I_  actually know how to handle a baby,” Alice said. “Susie taught me how.”

“I know how to handle a baby!” Bendy stamped his foot, despite knowing full well that he did not, in fact, know how to handle a baby.

“Children.” Joey gave them one of his patented ‘dad looks’ and they both muttered an apology and kicked their feet. Boris, meanwhile, was helping Wally put up the decorations. His tail was wagging so vigorously that Wally was a little afraid the ladder he was on would fall over. Boris’ whole body was vibrating. 

“Yeesh, big guy, I’m gonna fall over.” Wally glanced down at Boris. 

“Oh, sorry.” Boris smiled sheepishly and tried to still himself. 

“Nothing to be sorry about.” Wally scrambled down the ladder. “This is a big thing for you. I just hope Sammy doesn’t scare the kid.” 

“He’s actually very good with children,” Susie said, giving Wally a pointed look.

“I’m not a complete monster.” Sammy rolled his eyes. Before the conversation could go any further, though, the front door to the studio opened. 

“THEY’RE HERE!” Bendy yelled, streaking out of the break room and to the front door. Henry and Dianne walked into the studio, baby Benjamin cradled in his mother’s arms. Bendy ran up to them, practically vibrating. 

“Can I see him? I wanna see him!” He jumped up and down, eyes shining. Alice and Boris were close behind. All three toons crowded around Dianne and Henry, desperate to get a look at the baby. 

“Come on, you three, give her some space.” Henry gently moved them away from Dianne, who definitely looked tired. Both Henry and Dianne looked exhausted, but they were beaming as well. 

“Alright, no grabbing.” Dianne tilted the bundle in her arms so that the toons could see. They were all stunned. None of them had ever seen a baby before. 

“Is he supposed to be so small?” Bendy asked. “’Cause he’s really little.”

“All humans start out little,” Alice said, trying to sound as though she knew more than she did. Boris reached out and poked the baby’s nose. Benjamin opened his eyes, looking around blearily. Immediately, all three toons practically melted. 

“He’s so cute.” Alice cooed, reaching out and letting Benjamin play with her fingers. He stared up at the three toons curiously, happily grasping at their fingers. 

“Hey there, little guy.” Bendy grinned. Benjamin tilted his head to the side at the sound of Bendy’s voice and grabbed for him. 

“Would you like to hold him, Bendy?” Dianne asked. 

“You…You’re gonna let me?” Bendy’s eyes widened. 

“Just be careful,” Henry warned him. Dianne showed Bendy the proper way to hold Benjamin, then gently handed him over to the little demon. Bendy was almost scared, holding the baby in his arms. He was afraid he’d hurt Benjamin. The baby made happy noises, grasping for Bendy’s face and gurgling.

“See? I’m his favorite!” Bendy said in a shaky voice. 

“Are you alright, Bendy?” Alice asked, noticing the quaver in her brother’s voice. 

“I’m fine!” Bendy’s voice went up an octave and he quickly handed the baby back to Dianne. 

“I’m surprised he remembered your voice,” Dianne said, holding Benjamin to her chest. “I guess he was listening when you were talking to him.” 

“Wha- You really think so?” Bendy’s whole face lit up. He turned to Alice, smirking. 

“See?  _I’m_  his favorite already.” 

“We’ll see.” Alice rolled her eyes. 

“Henry? Dianne?” Joey stuck his head out of the break room. “What are you all waiting for? We have a party in here!” 

“We’re coming!” Henry called back to him before looking at the toons. “Are you all ready?” Bendy nodded and skipped off, satisfied that he was the baby’s favorite. He’d have to get Shawn to give Benjamin a plush of him. He couldn’t let the baby forget who the best toon was. 


	98. Angst War Entry

So, I’m a part of the angst war now. Let’s start out with [@ask-joeydrewstudios](https://tmblr.co/mEKj2fvdY3Z3PdYpAcyK9pw) and a little [@falseprotagonistsofbatim](https://tmblr.co/mejQ4GGMoMh3unuAUTjfIOg)

I channeled a lot of my own insecurities into Joseph Bartholomew Drew. 

* * *

Joey Drew considered himself to be a good person. He knew he was far from perfect, but he prided himself on the fact that his forays into black magic hadn’t hurt anyone but himself. But then the debacle with Sammy Wes had happened and Joey had discovered that he wasn’t the only Joey Drew in the vast multiverse. This in itself wasn’t the part that bothered him. It was the fact that he was an outlier. It horrified him that so many of his fellow Joey’s had hurt their friends in order to further their own goals. And the way they treated the toons…It was awful. It was enough to make Joey feel sick to his stomach. How could someone who was him do such terrible things? Especially to the people who were their friends. 

“Is that who I’m supposed to be?” Joey murmured to himself, head in his hands. “Am I supposed to be a villain?” He didn’t know why he was talking out loud. He knew he shouldn’t be. Someone might hear him.

“Papa Drew? Are you okay?” Bendy asked, sticking his head into Joey’s office. 

“You’ve been in your office all day.” Alice entered behind Bendy, looking rather nervous. Boris walked in as well, his ears flat against his head and his tail in between his legs. 

“I’m fine.” Joey forced himself to smile. 

“No, you’re not.” Alice folded her arms. “Something is obviously wrong.”

“We wanna help you.” Boris nodded. 

“I’m fine,” Joey assured them. He didn’t want to drag his children into this. He had seen what the other Joey’s had done to their toons. He felt like crying at the thought of it. Apparently, he wasn’t the kind of person Joey Drew was supposed to be. Joey Drew was a monster. Joey Drew was the villain. 

“Please, Papa Drew.” Bendy crawled into his lap, looking up at him with big pie-cut eyes. Joey felt tears beginning to form in his eyes. He cursed his body for betraying him at this moment. 

“You’re crying!” Alice’s eyes widened. 

“I’m fine.” Joey’s voice was soft, lest it betray itself with the characteristic quaver of held back tears. Boris made a whimpering sound, resting his head on Joey’s shoulder.

“Tell us what’s wrong.” Alice insisted. 

“You’re not leaving until I tell you, are you?” Joey smiled wearily, taking Alice’s hand in his. 

“We want to help.” Alice said. Joey laughed weakly, shaking his head. 

“I can’t get anything past you, can I?”

“You’re stalling.” Bendy screwed his face up. “Tell us what’s wrong.”

“Very well.” Joey sighed. “This whole ordeal with Sammy Wes…It’s shaken my faith. Knowing that there are other Joey Drew’s in the universe…And that they’re villains…It’s horrifying.”

“But you’re not like them!” Bendy said quickly. 

“I’m supposed to be.” Joey smiled sadly. “Joey Drew isn’t supposed to be a good person.” Boris whined louder, nuzzling Joey’s head. He was so worried about his father. 

“No.” Alice frowned and folded her arms. “You don’t get to wallow like this. You’re not like the other Joey’s. I don’t care if you aren’t the way you’re ‘suppose to be’. You’re our Papa Drew and nothing is going to change that.”

“Yeah! What Alice said!” Bendy nodded. “You’re our Papa Drew! Everyone loves you!” 

“You’re better than they’ll ever be,” Alice said. Joey smiled softly. 

“Thank you. All of you. A father couldn’t ask for better children.”

.

.

Joey knew he’d made mistakes. He’d hurt the people he’d called friends, he’d trusted someone he shouldn’t have, and he’d ended up ruining the lives of his children. As he sat in the back of Bendy’s mind, he kept going over his mistakes over and over again, trying to find some place where he could have fixed things. But no matter how many times he went over everything that had happened, it seemed it was always destined to end in failure. He watched as everyone heaped the blame on him. He knew he deserved it. He never should have trusted anything Murray Hill had to say.

“ _I’ll never see my children again because of you,_ ” Wally said, glaring him down in their shared mind space. 

“ _I know,_ ” Joey mumbled, hugging his knees to his chest.

“ _Sammy’s never going to see any of the people who care about him. He’s never going to know just how many people care about him._ ” Sammy’s spectral form appeared before him, towering over the former studio head in the blackness. 

“ _I know._ ”

“ _You did this to us._ ” Everyone who’d been hurt by Joey’s actions appeared, crowding around him.

“ _I know._ ” Joey put his hands over his ears, trying to block out all the voices that always seemed to follow him. 

“ _You did this to us. You ruined our lives._ ” They pressed closer, touching and pulling at him.

“ _I know. I’m sorry._ ” Joey began to sob, shaking his head. He hadn’t meant for any of this to happen. He’d thought he could fix things. He’d thought he could put everything back the way it was when he was finished. Why had he trusted Murray Hill? Why had he let this happen? He knew he was unworthy of forgiveness. He knew no one would ever care about him again. And part of him was fine with that. His children were alive now. They were out of the studio. Henry was taking care of them. But they weren’t alright. They would never be alright. That was his fault. He wanted to apologize to Bendy, Boris, and Alice. He wanted them to know he hadn’t meant to make them suffer like this. But would they even listen to him?

“ _I’m sorry Bendy._ ” He whispered on nights when Bendy sat up late into the night, plagued with nightmares. “ _I never wanted any of this for you._ ” Bendy never answered, just hugging his knees tighter to his chest. Joey sighed and retreated. He deserved all the hatred they gave him. No matter what he did, he would always be a worthless waste of space. The world was better now that he wasn’t in it. 


	99. Chapter 99

So, [@phoena12](https://tmblr.co/m4zzgIg40wGyqWrbVCrWeVw) reblogged [this](http://queenofcats17.tumblr.com/post/175050881265/phoena12-lawlu-minssery-ask-bot-whats) post and suggested it fit Jack and Sammy, so I decided to write a thing.

* * *

Jack and Sammy had been married for about a year when Jack came to work at Joey Drew Studios. Sammy was delighted to have his husband working in the same studio with him, as was Jack, but for the most part, they did their best to be professional while they were at work. Sammy had caught various coworkers making out with each other in break rooms enough times that he didn’t want to be  _that_  couple. The only problem with this was that no one actually knew that Sammy and Jack were married. Sammy, being a private person, hadn’t told his coworkers all that much about his husband, the bare minimum really. All people knew was that Sammy was married to another man who was similarly musically inclined. And when Jack arrived, they all saw a ring on his finger and knew he was married. Norman was pretty much the only one in the studio who knew the lyricist and the music director were married to  _each other_. 

“You should really tell everyone you two are married,” Norman said one day. “You know how nosy Wally can be. He might see you both together and think you’re cheating on your spouse.”

“Come on.” Sammy snorted. “The people here aren’t that stupid.”

“It ain’t about stupidity.” Norman pinched the bridge of his nose. “As far as the rest of the studio knows, the two of you never met before you came here.”

“It’ll be fine.” Sammy waved a hand dismissively. “They’ll figure it out.” 

They didn’t figure it out. As Norman had thought, people in the studio saw Jack and Sammy together, casting furtive glances towards one another, holding hands in the parking lot, kissing as they left work, and assumed they were cheating on their spouses. Wally and Susie even confronted Sammy about it. 

“Look, Sammy, you’re a very sweet man.” Susie held his hand in hers, giving him a sympathetic look. “And I’m sure you love Jack very much, but-”

“You’re both married!” Wally yelled, throwing his hands up. “I thought you were better than that, Sammy! I can’t believe you’d cheat on your husband!” 

“Jack  _is_ my husband,” Sammy said, staring at them. He couldn’t believe Norman had been right about this. Hell, he’d thought Susie would figure it out. He’d figured out she and Allison were married the day it had happened. 

“Wait,  _he’s_  your husband?” Wally blinked. “He’s the guy you’re always raving about?”

“I don’t know why I didn’t see it sooner.” Susie let go of his hands, running a hand through her hair. “It’s so obvious.” 

“I can’t believe Norman was right,” Sammy muttered, massaging his temples. Still, he had to admit, it was pretty funny. He left his office to go find Jack, struggling to contain the laughter that was bubbling up in his throat. He was giggling uncontrollably as he stumbled into his husband’s office. Jack was laughing to himself as well. 

“You’ll never guess what Allison just said to me,” Jack said. 

“I think I’ve got some idea.” Sammy wrapped his arms around Jack, kissing his forehead. 

Wally, Susie, and Allison were quick to apologize for the mixup. They were extremely embarrassed about the whole thing. Word quickly spread throughout the studio and some money discreetly changed hands. There had been a betting pool as to whether Jack and Sammy were married. Norman had won that betting pool, unsurprisingly.


	100. Sammy The Prophet

So, I saw this and I wanted to write it, and [@liliflower137](https://tmblr.co/m6IUUxKDNGCvV8dmwLG96Vg) wanted me to write it, so here we are.

Some lines were taken directly from [@blastmecaptcha](https://tmblr.co/mYJwx5PKB7uThFtVuo9C4_g)‘s post, I will admit. 

* * *

Sammy had never considered himself to be a religious person, but he believed very deeply in God. Believing in something more powerful than himself made him feel comfortable with the world around him. Still, he’d never put much stock in the idea of a divine prophet hearing the voice of his god. Until that is, it happened to him. It had been an ordinary day, all things considering. The stairwell had flooded and Sammy was headed up to Joey’s office to complain. 

“Joey.” He slammed the door open and marched in, right into the middle of a strange summoning circle. Joey looked up from his book, a panicked look crossing his features as the candles burned higher. For a moment, Sammy was blinded by the light, covering his face with his hand. Then it was gone and he and Joey were alone. 

“What the Hell was that?” Sammy demanded. 

‘Do you feel any different?” Joey asked, regarding him curiously.

“No? Why?”

“Oh.” Joey looked disappointed. “Okay.”

“Look, the stairwell flooded again,” Sammy said, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Just…do something about it. I’m going back to work.”

“Alright.” Joey waved him out, looking surprisingly dejected. Sammy decided to leave the whole thing alone. Joey was just naturally weird. Sammy didn’t have time to decode him right now. He had to get back to work. As he got down into the music department, he tripped over a mop Wally had left out. He swore loudly, kicking at the mop. Then he heard a childlike giggle. It almost sounded like Joey’s voice, but higher. 

“Alright, who’s laughing?” He said, not bothering to turn around. No one answered him. 

“Franks?” He turned his head. “That you?” No reply. Only a dull, heavy silence. The only other thing in the hallway was a Bendy cutout. Sammy frowned at this. Well, that was weird. Maybe he needed to get more sleep.

A few weeks later, something else strange happened. A deadline was approaching quickly and Sammy was dying. Everyone was bustling around, being as loud as was humanly possible. Sammy couldn’t focus at all. He’d started snapping at a lot of people, which he felt a little bad about. But he was at the end of his wits. All he wanted was a little bit of peace and quiet. 

“How’s anyone supposed to make music like this?” He muttered, holding his head in his hands. He’d been trying to get through the same bar of music for an hour now. He needed to take a break. Leaning back in his chair, he closed his eyes. It would do him some good to rest his eyes. As he slipped into sleep, he had flashes of his office, of the hallway out of his office, of a room cluttered with junk that he recognized as a storage room, of a door wedged between cabinets and there….through the door, was a little room. The perfect room for him, out of the way and big enough to fit all the instruments he needed. 

“Sammy!” He jolted awake at the sound of Wally’s voice, nearly falling out of his chair. 

“What?” Sammy asked, trying his hardest not to snap at the janitor. 

“Sorry.” Wally smiled disarmingly. “Have you seen-”

“You better not have lost your keys again,” Sammy growled, turning slowly to face the janitor. 

“No! Have you seen Susie?” Wally put his hands up. “Susie! Not my keys!”

“No, I haven’t.” Sammy sighed and massaged his temples. Wally left the room, hands shoved in his pockets. Sammy got up, running a hand through his hair. Maybe he should check out what he’d seen in his dream. It couldn’t be true, but it wouldn’t hurt to check it out, would it? He got up, following the path his dream had taken him. To his surprise, everything was exactly as it had been in his dream. And there, between the selves and clutter, was the door. The room was so much better than he’d ever imagined. It was blessedly quiet. Perfect for getting away and getting his work done. He knew better than to question a good thing, so he just gathered up his work and finished what he needed to finish.

Soon enough, he stopped questioning the voice in his head. He was pretty sure it was Bendy by this point. The voice resembled the one Joey did for the little demon. And honestly? It wasn’t that bad. He’d assumed if he started losing his mind, he’d begin hearing Alice’s voice, but no it was Bendy’s. It was like having a little kid following him around all the time. Contrary to popular belief, Sammy rather enjoyed the company of children. Bendy asked a lot of questions and Sammy was more than happy to answer those questions. One day, he turned around saw a Bendy cutout he was _sure_  hadn’t been there before. He laughed softly and shook his head. 

“Hi, Bendy.” He said before getting his cup of coffee and walking back to his office. Everyone in the break room stared after him, dumbfounded. 

“Did he just…talk to a cutout?” Wally asked. “I’m not the only one who saw that, right?” Everyone just sort of shrugged. They were used to Sammy being weird.

“Sammy, you shouldn’t drink so much coffee,” Bendy said.  

“Yeah well I think I shouldn’t be talking to imaginary people in my head but here we are.”

——–

“Sammy, Sammy, why did the chicken cross the road?”

“To get to the other side?”

“You ruined it!”

———–

“Sammy, I know how you can get back at Wally!”

“Oh?”

“You’ll need glue, feathers, and a bucket!”

“I’m listening…”

—————-

Everyone noticed how Sammy’s mood seemed to be improving. Of course, no one was complaining about that. Sammy being in a good mood meant no one got yelled at. The studio employees started to realize how pleasant Sammy could actually be. One day, when Bendy was talking about how “ _there was a raccoon that broke into the studios last night, and you should’ve seen it, Sammy,_ ” multiple people developed crushes on Sammy. Just seeing him smile like that…It was enough to melt hearts. 

“Has Sammy always been this hot?” Some of the interns whispered to one another. 

“What’s got you so happy, lately?” Wally asked one day. Bendy had just got finished telling Sammy about the time when Wally had been chased into a closet by a crow, so Sammy was in an especially good mood. 

“Oh, nothing really.” Sammy shrugged. He didn’t know how to tell others about Bendy without sounding like he was losing his mind, which he was fairly sure he was. 

On the day Joey finally managed to summon Bendy, though, he was validated. Sammy had been going about his work as usual when the door had been slammed open. He’d looked up, ready to tell someone off, and he’d stopped. Standing there was Bendy the Dancing Demon, in the flesh. Sammy’s eyes widened, his mouth hanging open. Bendy practically flew across the room and into Sammy’s arms. 

“I  _wasn’t_  losing my mind?” Sammy muttered. He couldn’t help but smile and pat Bendy’s head, though. 

“It’s good to see you too, Ben.”


	101. Chapter 101

**[rosebloodcat](https://rosebloodcat.tumblr.com/) asked: Hi again. I was wondering if you'd mind writing a prompt for me? An AU I'm really fond of is the HatIM Spinoff AU, and one thing I'd really love to read is the event between chapter's 3 and 4 where Bendy finally finds out Henry was Buddy, would you mind writing it?**

YES. Yes, I can do this. Sorry, I got really excited.

Henry And The Ink Machine belongs to [@thelostmoongazer](https://tmblr.co/mD95Pv_yldGWnvNtGlATqCQ)

Buddy belongs to [@upperstories](https://tmblr.co/mpn2FA5TUS38yZzhhvX-KaQ)

* * *

They’d done all that weird Alice’s errands and now they were getting out of there. They were finally getting out. Bendy looked to Boris and down to the little pipsqueak that had been following him around. 

“This is it, little guy.” He said, patting the pipsqueak’s head. “We’re getting out.” The pipsqueak, Buddy as he’d started calling him, looked more than a little nervous. What was there to be nervous about? The crazy broad was letting them go. 

“Have you ever wondered what Heaven is like?” Alice asked them as the doors closed and they started to ascend. Her voice was soft and sweet again. “I like to dream that it’s quite beautiful. A soft valley of green grass, blanketed by a warm sun. I don’t think I’ll ever get to see it. Are you ready to ascend, my little errand boy? The heavens are waiting.” She started to sob quietly. The sobs quickly turned to laughter, though, and the elevator suddenly began to drop. Sparks flew, Boris cowered, and Buddy started screeching. 

“Did you really think I’d let you steal from me?! Did you really think I’d just let you go?!” Alice roared. “No, Henry! I know who you are! And I know why you’re here! And you will not stop what needs to be done!”

“Henry? What’re you talking about?!” Bendy demanded. “Henry ain’t here!”

“Now come down and bring me back my Boris!” Alice kept screaming. “It’s the most perfect Boris I’ve ever seen and I want it! I need it. I need its insides so I can be beautiful again! Don’t you understand? Don’t you get it?! Give him to me! Or better yet, I’ll take him! Once…you’re….dead!”

The elevator slammed into the ground and they were thrown out of the car. The next thing Bendy knew, the little pipsqueak was shaking him awake. Boris was nowhere to be seen.

“Where’s Boris?!” Bendy hopped up, ignoring the persistent pain in his head and extremities. Buddy made concerned noises, trying to drag Bendy down so he could get a better look at the bigger demon. 

“No, I gotta find Bo!” Bendy pulled away. “I gotta-” Then he stopped, something Alice said coming back to him. She’d called someone in the elevator Henry. It hadn’t been Boris, and it certainly hadn’t been him, which only left…

He turned back to Buddy. Buddy stared up at him, shaking and nervous as always. Bendy knelt before the demon, wiping away the ink covering the little guy’s eyes. Blue eyes. Just like…

“Henry?”

Buddy tilted his head to the side, flinching away from Bendy’s touch. Somehow, it all made sense now. Bendy felt like throwing up. Joey had done this to Henry. He’d taken everything that had made Henry special and wonderful and thrown it all away to make a cheap imitation of Bendy. Henry had been here this whole time. Henry hadn’t abandoned him. Bendy sunk to his knees, head in his hands as ink started to drip onto the floor. Buddy drew closer, putting one mittenlike hand on Bendy’s shoulder. It was a feeble attempt at replicating what Henry had once done to him. Bendy tried to stammer out a word of thanks to the little toon, but no words came out. No, he couldn’t start crying. Crying was a weakness. Crying would be punished. Instead, he stood up and stalked away. 

“I’m gonna kill him.” He growled, raking his hands across the walls. “I’m gonna kill that bastard!” Ink dripped back over Buddy’s eyes and he ran after Bendy, tugging concernedly at the bigger toon’s jacket. 

“I’m gonna kill him!” Bendy kicked and punched at the walls, his voice rising. If he stayed angry he wouldn’t have to face the reality that Buddy was Henry. If he stayed angry, he wouldn’t have to go through that grief. He wouldn’t have to deal with his emotions. Buddy seemed to pick up on this, watching Bendy worriedly as the demon stormed down the hallway. Someone was going to really get hurt. 


	102. Chapter 102

**[liliflower137](https://liliflower137.tumblr.com/) asked: Could you do more Eldrich Hen? I love how you write him**

Sorry this took so long. It’s been crazy.

* * *

No one was quite sure how they were supposed to react to a literal eldrich creature being their boss’ pseudo-son. He was perfectly nice, of course, always polite and diligent in his work. It was just…weird. Wally had been the first to sort of shrug it off and start talking to Henry. Wally dabbled in drawing sometimes, it was something he rather enjoyed, so he and Henry could talk about that lot. Henry even started teaching the janitor how to animate. 

“How’s this pose?”

“Too stiff. It needs to be more fluid, like this.” Henry leaned over Wally’s shoulder, sketching a quick character to illustrate his point. Wally’s brow furrowed and he tried to copy what Henry had done.

“It’s okay if it takes some time,” Henry assured him, patting Wally’s shoulder with one tentacle. “Art is difficult. It takes a lot of practice.”

“Did you practice?” Wally asked, glancing back at the cloud that was his coworker. “I mean, we don’t know a lot about you.” 

“I mean, yeah.” Henry nodded, continuing to doodle on the page in front of Wally. “When I first came into this world, Joey taught me how to draw. And I really like it. It makes me happy. I wanted to be the best I possibly could.” Wally could see that. Joey naturally had this weird fatherly nature to him, so it wasn’t too hard to picture him showing Henry how to hold a pencil and showing him how to draw his first cartoon.

“Well, that’s good.” Wally leaned back in his chair. “We were all kinda scared of you when we started working here, y’know?”  The words slipped out before the janitor could stop himself. He mentally kicked himself for saying that so casually. He was just getting on Henry’s good side!

“I mean, I guess I’m not surprised.” Henry shrugged slightly, moving into Wally’s lap so that he was able to draw better. “I know what I look like.”

“But we were wrong to be afraid of you,” Wally added quickly. “You’re a real great guy. I don’t know anyone who can draw better than you.”

“Thanks.” Henry couldn’t really smile, but Wally felt like that comment had made the strange creature happy.

“No problem.” Wally grinned down at him. “Uh, thanks for tryin’ to teach me how to animate. I know I’m probably not a great student.”

“You’re making great progress!” Henry insisted, turning his many eyes on Wally. “Plus, it’s really fun actually being able to teach someone.” He then turned his attention back to the drawings, leaving Wally to smile to himself.


	103. Chapter 103

**[liliflower137](https://liliflower137.tumblr.com/) asked: Here's something new about Eldrich Henry! When he's really relaxed his body tends to get melty! If you're holding him he'll drip right between your fingers, but he's just really happy and relaxed, mayhe even asleep. Could you write a fic about that happening and it scaring someone at first?**

Sorry this took so long. I’ve been having trouble being creative

Trainwreck AU belongs to [@islandguardiantapumeme](https://tmblr.co/mkC_ZlkqvOdFr3a-0kWFKsw)

* * *

Joey had thought he had gotten used to having a strange amorphous cloud of tentacles and eyes in his life. He’d thought he knew everything there was to know about his adoptive son. Apparently, though, he’d been wrong. It had happened at the studio one day. It was getting late and Henry had wandered into Joey’s office, tired from a day of drawing.

“You’ve been working hard, haven’t you?” Joey laughed, gathering Henry up in his arms. 

“We got a deadline to meet.” Henry murmured. Joey could have sworn he was yawning, but then again he wasn’t entirely sure. 

“Yes, but you shouldn’t work yourself too hard, son.” Joey patted the top of Henry. “Wouldn’t want you taking too much after me, after all.”

“But deadlines!” Henry groaned, snuggling into Joey’s arms. 

“God, you sound like Grant.” Joey laughed softly, adjusting Henry so that the little creature could be more comfortable. Henry made a small noise that was muffled by Joey’s arm. Joey sighed and shook his head, smiling as he returned to his paperwork. Grant had given him that month’s expense reports and he needed to look them over before the end of the week. He hummed to himself as he worked. It was early in their relationship and Henry hadn’t had much time to actually fall asleep on Joey. Which was why Joey didn’t know what happened when Henry was relaxed.

He was halfway through the finance report when he felt something dripping onto his leg. He sighed to himself, expecting to look down and find that the pipes were leaking again. He’d bought the building secondhand and sometimes the pipes in his office leaked, no matter how many times he got a contractor in to fix it. However, when he looked down, he found it wasn’t water on his pants…But Henry. Henry was dripping out of his arms and onto his legs. Joey blinked, trying to process what he was seeing. Well, that was…new. Part of him wanted to panic, worried that something was wrong with Henry. But at the same time, he knew Henry was stranger than he could ever comprehend. 

“Henry? You alright?” He asked, trying to keep his voice from shaking. Henry’s many eyes opened and his body gathered itself back together. He floated up, stretching his tentacles. 

“I’m fine. Are  _you_ okay? You sound scared.”

“Yeah, I, uh, I’m fine.” Joey managed a smile. “You were just, uh, melting.”

“Oh, yeah, that happens when I’m relaxed.” Henry seemed almost bashful, rubbing his tentacles together sheepishly. “Sorry, I probably should have warned you.”

“No, it’s okay, don’t worry.” Joey was quick to reassure him, taking Henry in his arms once more. “It just surprised me, is all.”

“Are you sure?” Henry asked, looking up at him. He knew he tended to…unsettle some humans. He’d seen the looks he got from the other employees of the studio.

“Of course.” Joey gave him a big smile. 

“You don’t think it’s…too weird?”

“Henry, my life will always be weird, whether or not you’re in it,” Joey said. “Besides, I wouldn’t want to lose you over something so trivial.” He’d always wanted a son. Having Henry become a part of his life was one of the best things that had ever happened to him. 

“Well, okay.” Henry might have been smiling. Joey wasn’t sure. 

“In any case, let’s get you home.” Joey scooped him up. “If you’re falling asleep on me now, then it’s probably best to get you to bed.”

“But don’t you have work to finish?” Henry asked. 

“I can finish it once we get you to bed,” Joey said, shuffling the papers into his bag. “Now, let’s get going.” Henry protested a bit more, but in the end, snuggled into Joey’s arms, content and safe.


	104. Chapter 104

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tw: Kidnapping

**[liliflower137](https://liliflower137.tumblr.com/) asked: Do you think you could expand on Eldrich Hen getting kidnapped? (A prompt if my phrasing isn't clear)**

Oh boy. This is gonna be rough.

* * *

Henry didn’t know why these people had taken him. Okay, maybe he had some idea. He was an eldritch creature. He knew that. He’d known, deep down, that if he left the studio there would be people who would want to study and exploit him. Joey had told him as much. But he’d never imagined it would actually happen. Joey had always kept him safe in the past. Joey had always been there for him. Henry cowered in the corner of the cell, watching as the strangers walked around outside his cell. They’d taken him out of the cell the day before and had cut off some of his tentacles, and that really hadn’t been fun. Even now, there was dried black blood on the floor around him. He’d mostly healed from them, but he didn’t want to take any chances.

One of the strangers crouched near him, holding their hand out. 

“Hey there, little guy.” They cooed. “How’s it going?” Henry couldn’t see their face because of the mask, but their tone of voice was kind. Henry moved out of his corner cautiously, brushing some of his tentacles against their hand. 

“You’re a pretty one, aren’t you?” The stranger said, stroking the top of Henry’s head. Henry perked up a little at this. Maybe they were nice. Maybe this person would let him go. 

“Hey!” Henry immediately retreated to his corner upon hearing the sharp voice of the person he assumed was the leader. “What did I tell you about contact with the subject?!”

“S-Sorry, boss.” The first person stood up, wiping their hands off on their robe. The boss dragged them away to lecture them, leaving Henry alone once more. He started to cry quietly, tears dripping onto the stone floor. He didn’t like it here. He wanted to go home. 

The next day, the one who had offered their hand to him returned, this time with a cup. Henry wasn’t sure why they had a cup and honestly, he was a little afraid of what they might be planning. 

“Hey, I got a present for you.” They knelt down again. Henry peeked out a little as they held the cup out to him. Henry wasn’t sure if they were really being nice to him, but he wanted so badly to hide inside that cup. So he surged forward and into the cup, curling up tightly. 

“You’re so cute~” The masked person sighed, reaching in to tickle him with their finger. Henry made a happy noise. It reminded him of when Joey would tickle him. Which only made him miss Joey even more. He hoped he’d be able to go home soon. He curled up tighter in the cup, trying not to start crying again. Suddenly, he was swept out of the hands of the kind stranger and dumped onto the floor. The leader was yelling at the kind stranger, giving Henry the opportunity to scamper back to his corner. The tears came unbidden. He just wanted to go home.


	105. One Foot In The Grave

So, [@liliflower137](https://tmblr.co/m6IUUxKDNGCvV8dmwLG96Vg) asked me to write something based on [this](http://jekyll-doodles.tumblr.com/post/177922927294/i-think-james-getting-inked-has-the-most-angst), and since [@jekyll-doodles](https://tmblr.co/mkumZsuS9L4Y_vbXxe_bu6g) has given me many feelings with her art, I decided I’d do it

Also, [@masari17](https://tmblr.co/mHHcOb0VqQHtCQgOCpsMV_g) wrote something for this prompt, [here](http://jekyll-doodles.tumblr.com/post/177952611734/so-i-finally-decided-to-write-you-something)

[@boxeption](https://tmblr.co/mvt-YtN3zOBo5GeaFP3RcCw) wrote something for it as well, [here ](http://jekyll-doodles.tumblr.com/post/177983394399/ever-after)

* * *

This wasn’t supposed to happen. Of course, that could be said about a lot of things that happened in Joey Drew Studios. But for once…For once it seemed as though Joey’s magic had done something right. They’d been happy as James. While others hadn’t taken to being fused all that well, Jack and Sammy had been a surprisingly stable and happy fusion. Neither had been in any rush to unfuse. For a few weeks, everything seemed as though it was looking up. Jack had been getting worried about Sammy, if he was being honest. Sammy had been acting rather strangely. It wasn’t anything drastic, which almost worried Jack even more. Sammy wasn’t acting out. He was just acting…odd. There was something just slightly off. But now…Now things were alright. They were happy like this. 

“Seriously, how is half of you Sammy?” Wally asked, leaning on his mop. He came by to ask this question a lot. Part of James, the part that was Sammy, was rather irritated by this.

 _“Oh, give him a break.”_  Jack would always tell Sammy in their mind.  _“He just doesn’t know you like I do.”_

 _“He acts like I’m incapable of being pleasant.”_ Sammy always replied testily. For  now, though, James answered Wally calmly. 

“That’s my secret.” He hummed, giving Wally a wink. 

“But you’re so- so-”

“So…What?” 

“I don’t know.” Wally threw his hands up. “Nice? Soft? Generally decent?”

“Well, then you obviously don’t know the Sammy I do.” James turned back to his work. He was stuck on one specific bar, unsure whether to go high or low.

“You’re so weird,” Wally muttered, shrugging and leaving to go finish cleaning. James breathed an unconscious sigh of relief at Wally’s departure. 

_“I really don’t understand why you dislike him so much, Sammy.”_

_“He’s grating,”_  Sammy said.  _“A thoughtless peon who doesn’t understand what he does.”_ Jack wasn’t sure what to make of that sentence. Sammy had been saying a lot of things like that lately. It…It probably didn’t mean anything, right? James sighed and put down his pen, resting his head in his hands. 

“Everything is fine.” He whispered. “Everything is alright.” Did he truly believe that, though? Or was he just trying to lull himself into a false sense of security?

“No, everything is fine.” He let out a sharp exhale.

 _“Don’t we sound ridiculous?”_  Jack laughed nervously.  _“Talking to ourselves like this.”_

 _“There’s nothing wrong with talking to yourself,”_  Sammy assured him. Jack relaxed a bit at this. Something about Sammy’s voice always made him feel better when he was doubting himself. But still…He couldn’t shake the feeling that something was amiss.

He shook his head, abruptly getting up. He just needed to clear his head. A walk would do him some good. Leaving his office, he started to pace around the studio. He didn’t pay any attention to where he was going so he was rather surprised when he found himself in front of the ink machine. 

“Why am I here?” He murmured. Instinctively, he took his glasses off and vigorously cleaned them, a habit he’d picked up from Jack. He had a sinking feeling in his gut and he wasn’t sure where it was coming from. There was a reason he was here. 

“Ah! James!” Joey’s head suddenly popped up. “I was wondering when you’d show up!”

“You were…expecting me?” James’ mouth felt dry. 

“Of course!” Joey clamored onto the platform. “Sammy promised he’d bring you both here.” His smile made Jack’s blood run cold. The corners of James’ mouth were starting to turn up. 

 _“Sammy…What’s going on?”_  Jack’s heart began to pound.  _“What’s he talking about?”_

 _“We’re going to be reborn, Jack.”_  Sammy’s voice was soft as silk. James began to laugh, half fearful and half manic with glee. 

“You seem rather conflicted.” Joey’s smile only widened. “Perhaps I could do something to help.”

“Don’t you dare,” James said through gritted teeth.

“Oh, Jack.” Joey sighed and shook his head. “If only you could understand.”

 _“It will be wonderful, Jack.”_  Sammy insisted. Jack could see all that Sammy had been hiding from him now. It was horrifying. 

 _“You must be **kidding!** ”_ Jack yelled.  _“You want to worship a **cartoon demon**?!”_

 _“It’s so much more than that, Jack. You have to trust me.”_  Sammy tried to pull Jack close to him, pressing kisses to Jack’s cheek.  _“It will all be worth it in the end.”_

James’ hands went to his head as the two men warred inside of him. Joey sighed and shook his head. 

“I wish I didn’t have to do this, but it seems as though you need a little push.” He picked up a fallen board and, without a second thought, hit James as hard as he could. The taller man crumpled to the ground. Joey tossed the board to the side, picking James up and dragging him down to the ink machine. 

“Don’t worry,” he purred into James’ ear. “You’ll understand soon, Jack. You’ll understand soon.”

_He didn’t want this._

_He didn’t want to **be**  this. _

_Sammy had lost his mind._

_He just wanted to go back to the way things were._

_He couldn’t let Sammy hurt anyone._

_He had to keep the others safe._

_No one else could get hurt._

_As long as it was just him…_

_It would be alright_


	106. Chapter 106

**Anonymous asked: About previous ask about batim kids : yup, exatcly a story!!! (sorry if it wasn' clear enaugh :( )**

Thank you for clarifying. This is going to be fun.

Sidenote, sorry this took so long. School and life got in the way. And I got a bit carried away, I think.

* * *

Joey was a monument to bad decision making. Despite being told multiple times by Henry that he shouldn’t go messing around with black magic, especially after the fiascos of several workers being temporarily turned into ink creatures, Joey was still dabbling in forces he didn’t understand. Henry had hoped that when the toons were brought into the world, Joey would mellow a bit. This had not been the case. Bendy had proved to be a terrible influence, being even more curious than Joey and even less aware of the consequences. Alice was the only thing that stood between them and the continual destruction of the studio. However, today, Susie, Allison, and Alice had decided to have a sleepover so Alice was absent from the studio. With their conscience gone, Bendy and Joey were messing with magic again.

“Bendy, I don’t think this is a good idea,” Boris said as he watched Joey and Bendy set up the ritual circle.

“C’mon, Bo!” Bendy glanced back at his friend with a big smile. “It’ll be fine! When have we ever gotten hurt doin’ something like this?”

“I mean, there’ve been a buncha times,” Boris replied, starting to count on his fingers. “There was the time when you tried to summon a god and the circle blew up in your face, and the time that you tried that healing spell that ended up just removing Mr. Frank’s bones, and the time-”

“Okay, so we’ve had a few duds.” Bendy cut him off, waving a hand dismissively. “But this’ll be fine! I swear!” 

“What are y’all doin’, anyway?” Boris asked, his ears drooping a bit. He just knew Alice was going to be mad when she and the voice actresses returned to the studio. She’d left him in charge and everything.

“It’s a bit embarrassing,” Joey said, rubbing the back of his neck. 

“Joey’s self-conscious about the fact that he’s getting old, so he wants to try to make himself young again,” Bendy said with a big grin. Joey shrugged his shoulders, his cheeks starting to turn red. Joey was normally someone who didn’t particularly care what people thought of him, nor had he ever been one to be concerned with his appearance, but as of late he’d been painfully aware of the grey in his hair and the wrinkles on his face. Henry and Linda were celebrating their 20th wedding anniversary and Joey was still alone, which made him wonder if his looks were declining. It didn’t help that his niece had taken to making fun of how old he was. 

“Joey, you’re not that old.” Boris tried to reassure him. “50′s is middle-aged, right?” If he was being honest, human ages confused him a little bit. Toons didn’t age. But he’d be lying if he said he didn’t worry about the fact that the human employees of the studio were getting older. He’d had more than a few late-night meltdowns at the thought of his friends dying. This had also fueled Joey’s desire to make himself younger once more. 

“Thank you, Boris, I appreciate it.” Joey smiled wearily. “I just…I want to see if it can be done. After all, dreaming is just human nature, isn’t it?”

“But this could be dangerous.”  Boris’ tail went in between his legs. “You could end up doing something bad.”

“You sound like Alice.” Bendy groaned loudly. 

“Well, someone’s gotta be responsible!” Boris shot back. “Alice left me in charge!”

“Uuuuugh!” Bendy groaned louder, flopping down on the ground. “I thought we’d finally be able to have some fun with her gone!”

“Now, Bendy, be nice,” Joey said, finishing up the ritual circle. “She is your sister.”

“But she’s such a stick in the mud!” 

“She has your best interests at heart.” 

“I bet you didn’t like it when  _your_  sister bossed you around.”

“That is…not incorrect,” Joey admitted. “Look, let’s just finish this before the girls get back.” He knew full well that both Susie and Allison would also yell at him if they found out he was doing this. And they would inevitably tell Esther, which meant he’d get yelled at more.

“Hell yeah!” Bendy fist pumped, hunkering down to assembled the ritual components. 

.

As Alice, Susie, and Allison pulled into the parking lot of the studio, Alice sat bolt upright in the car seat, her eyes widening.

“What is it?” Susie asked, immediately concerned. 

“They’re doing something they’re not supposed to,” Alice said cryptically before jumping out of the car and running for the studio door. Allison and Susie scrambled after her.

Almost as soon as the three of them got through the door, they were engulfed by a blinding light. Once it faded, Alice blinked owlishly, looking around. It didn’t look as though anything had changed. For a moment, she was almost convinced that whatever spell the boys had been attempting had failed. Then she heard a very childlike sniffle from behind her. Turning around very slowly, she found herself face to face with two little girls wearing Susie and Allison’s clothing. The clothing seemed to have changed with them. The children were still recognizable as Allison and Susie, although Alice found herself rather intrigued by the fact that Susie didn’t seem to be a natural blond.

“What happened?” Allison looked from herself to Susie, baffled by the sudden change. She almost resembled a porcelain baby doll with her long dark hair, big brown eyes, and slender body.

“I don’t wanna be a little kid again!” Susie bawled, falling to her knees and covering her face in her hands. She was a positively adorable child. The kind that one might see in a magazine. 

“No, Susie, don’t cry.” Allison’s lip was beginning to quiver. “Y-You’re going to make me cry.” Soon both of them were crying, clinging to one another. 

“Why don’t we go find the others, okay?” Alice suggested, gently helping the girls to their feet. “We’ll figure out what happened and find a way to reverse it.”

“Y-You promise?” Susie asked, looking up at Alice. 

“I promise.” Alice smiled and ruffled her hair. 

“Well, okay.” Susie sniffled one last time. She was still holding Allison’s hand though. Alice guided them to Joey’s office, trying to stay gentle and positive. Once she got to the office, though, she slammed the door open. Bendy and Boris froze where they were, which had been huddled around a small dark-haired boy.

“You boys are in a lot of trouble,” Alice said, narrowing her eyes. Bendy smiled nervously.

“It was his idea!” Boris blurted out, pointing at Bendy. 

“You snitch!” Bendy launched himself at Boris and the two began to wrestle. Alice sighed heavily, shaking her head before turning her attention to the dark-haired boy. She didn’t know a lot about what Joey had been like as a child. He didn’t talk about it much, other than to say that he’d been a sickly kid who’d gotten beaten up a lot. He did honestly look like the kind of kid who’d get beat up. He was small and scrawny, everything about him coming off as awkward and gangly.

“Um, hi Alice.” He smiled nervously and waved. 

“I hope you understand that you’re in a lot of trouble.” She put her hands on her hips.

“I know.” His shoulders slumped and his face fell. 

“Please tell me you know how to fix this,” Susie said, looking at him imploringly. Joey’s nervous smile returned. 

“I…Probably?”

“Probably?”

“I mean, I’m fairly certain  _something_  went wrong.” Joey turned, starting to flip through the book he’d gotten out. “It wasn’t supposed to affect the whole studio. And it wasn’t supposed to regress us this far.”

“But you can fix it, right?” Allison asked, squeezing Susie’s hand comfortingly. She could sense the other voice actress was on the verge of tears once more.

“Give me some time and I’ll figure it out.” Joey nodded. It was strange to see a small child move with such confidence and purpose. And yet, he still seemed unsure of himself. With this assurance, Alice went to work trying to calm her brothers. 

“Well, okay.” Susie still didn’t like this, but she felt a bit better. Joey always figured things out, didn’t he? But then again, it was his fault this had happened to begin with. 

“DREW!” A voice shrieked. The voice was tinged with a British accent, so everyone in the office had some idea of who it belonged to, but no one was quite prepared to witness a ten-year-old Bertram Piedmont. Bertram was normally a very intimidating man, tall and built like a brick wall. As a child, however, he was…less than threatening. He was short and stocky, with chubby cheeks and an adorable pout.

“Ah, hello Bertie.” Joey smiled apologetically. “I’m sorry about this. I didn’t know this was going to happen, I promise. I had hoped it would only affect me.”

“Fix this,” Bertram growled, storming up to him. To everyone’s surprise, he was still able to pick Joey up by his shirt. 

“I will, I will.” Joey smiled reassuringly. “Don’t worry.” 

“That’s what you always say, and then something like this happens.” Everyone’s attention was drawn to the door again, revealing a boy who looked like a painting of a cherub. His hair was short and curly, perfectly framing his chubby-cheeked face with big brown eyes. He was wearing a dress shirt, dress pants, and suspenders, although he looked as though he’d be more suited to a little sailor suit. 

“You just need to have faith,” Joey said, despite very clearly being confused about this boy’s identity. Bertram slowly put Joey down. The boy hunched his shoulders, grumbling to himself. 

“Why are you all looking at me like that?” He demanded, his cheeks starting to turn pink. “I’m not that ugly.”

“Wait…Sammy?” Susie gasped. 

“Yeah?”

For a moment, everyone was silent. Then Susie squealed and threw herself onto him, hugging him and pinching his cheeks. Judging from Sammy’s subdued reaction, he was used to this sort of thing. Allison stifled a giggle.

“I’m going back to my rides,” Bertram muttered, turning and stalking out. Allison smiled to herself, looking at Alice. 

“Can you handle things here?” She asked. Alice looked up from trying to pry Boris and Bendy apart. 

“I’ll be fine.” She gave the voice actress a weary smile. “Go on.” Allison nodded and slipped out. She’d be lying if she said she wasn’t curious what some of the other studio members looked like as children. For starters, she couldn’t imagine Norman, Lacie, Shawn, Grant, or Thomas as anything but adults. As she descended into the music department, she came face to face with the resident lyricist. 

“Hello, Miss Pendle.” He smiled brightly, revealing two missing front teeth. He looked about the same, just smaller and without any facial hair. His hair was longer too, sticking out from under his hat. 

“Hello, Jack.” She replied. “Have you seen Thomas?”

“Last I saw him, he was on level 9 trying to fix some sign,” Jack said. “He was with Franks, I think.”

“Thank you.” She started to leave, but Jack caught her arm. 

“I’m assuming this,” he gestured down at himself. “Has something to do with Mr. Drew, right?”

“He messed up a spell.” 

That seemed to be all the answer Jack needed, and he let her go. Allison immediately set off for level 9, feeling rather giddy. The thought of seeing a side of Thomas she hadn’t before was exciting. She took the elevator down, giggling to herself. Sure enough, on level 9, there was Thomas and Wally. Wally was standing on Thomas’ shoulders, trying to reach something with a wrench.

“Go to the left a little.”

“I can’t go left any further.”

“Sure you can!”

“There’s a ticket booth block me, Frank. I can’t.”

“Well, I can’t reach it like this.” 

“You could get  **on**  the booth.”

“Are you crazy?! That’s dangerous!”

Thomas rolled his eyes, sighing as Wally clambered down. Allison wandered innocently up to them, humming to herself.

“Hello, boys~”

“Oh, hey Allison.” Wally waved to her. He’d always had a baby face, so he didn’t look too different. His hair was longer too, and quite a bit messier. But Thomas…As soon as he saw her he tried to hide. 

“Why’re you hiding?” Wally looked back at him. 

“This is embarrassing!” Thomas groaned. 

“Come on, it can’t be that bad.” Allison tried to reassure him, putting a hand on his shoulder. 

“It is that bad,” Thomas said, still hunched over. Allison sighed, crouching down beside him. 

“I’m not going to judge you.” She said. “Please, let me see your face.” Thomas hesitated for a moment before finally turning to face her. He wasn’t a particularly attractive child, nose too big, ears sticking out, and his haircut was absolutely atrocious, but it was still recognizable as Thomas and she knew he’d grow into his features. Allison’s expression softened. 

“See? That’s not so bad.” She cupped his face in her hands. 

“You don’t think I look…strange?” Thomas asked. 

“Of course not.” She smiled. “You’re still my handsome Tom.” She leaned in and kissed his nose. The moment was interrupted by Wally making a retching noise. Thomas leveled a glare at Wally. 

“What? You two were being gross!” Wally said. 

“Then why don’t you give us some alone time?” Allison suggested in a voice that made it clear Wally’s presence was not desire at the moment. Wally muttered something, probably about getting ‘outta there’, and made tracks. Allison and Thomas sat on the steps, holding hands and cuddling. 

.

Meanwhile, Bertram was trying to work on his machines. It was difficult, to say the least. He’d forgotten how difficult it was to be small. His fingers were so fat too. He didn’t have the dexterity he was used to.

“Looks like you need some help.” He started at the familiar voice, pitched up higher than he was used to. Lacie strolled in, seemingly unperturbed by the fact that she was now a child. She was as self-assured as ever. Bertram couldn’t help but feel self-conscious. He hadn’t been a good looking child. He’d been fat, unwieldy, and awkward. Lacie was elegant and strong, like a statue carved from onyx or black marble. Bertram had always thought she was beautiful. Especially when she was working on some machine and he watched her biceps flex and the sweat roll down her temples, her hair sticking to her skin. 

“Yes, I suppose I could.” He stepped aside so that she could take a look. She had long deft fingers, even like this. 

“Does this bother you?” Bertram asked after a few minutes. “Being like this?”

“Honestly, it’s not too bad.” Lacie shrugged. “I’ve still got hands. ‘M always thinking Drew’s gonna turn us into animals one of these days.”

“That does sound like him.” Bertram allowed himself to smile.

“Besides, any chance to see you flustered is a treat.” Lacie looked back to smirk at him. Bertram felt his face beginning to heat up. God, it was like primary school all over again.

.

Grant had noticed he had been turned into a child, but honestly? He couldn’t muster up the energy to care. This wasn’t the first time Joey had mucked up a spell and turned them all into something, and it likely wouldn’t be the last. He was just glad he still had hands. He silently thanked his parents for insisting he have such impeccable handwriting, even at a young age. His writing was still legible, thanks to that. Suddenly, the door was slammed open and Shawn came slouching in.

“You could have just opened the door like a normal person,” Grant said, pushing his glasses up his nose. 

“I hate this!” Shawn groaned, flopping down on the cot Grant kept in the corner of his office. 

“It’s less than ideal.” 

“I can’t drink! I can’t smoke! It’s awful!” 

Grant’s nose wrinkled. That was right. He couldn’t drink as a child. He lowered himself off his chair to go lay on the cot next to Shawn. Grant himself perpetually looked like a tall tired child, so he didn’t look all that different. But no one at the studio had ever seen Shawn without facial hair, much less as a child.

“Why’re you staring?” Shawn muttered, still facedown on the cot. “I can feel your eyes.”

“I don’t know how to feel about seeing you as a kid,” Grant said. “It’s strange.”

“I was a fucking ugly kid, I know. No need to rub it in.” Shawn grumbled, rolling over so his back was to Grant.

“That is absolutely not what I meant,” Grant said flatly. “Children aren’t meant to be attractive, anyway. What I meant is that it’s strange to see you without a beard.” Shawn rolled over to face Grant, smiling slightly. 

“I guess none of you have ever seen me cleanshaven, huh?”

“That is true and I’m starting to think I don’t like you cleanshaven.”

Shawn snorted and slapped Grant’s arm.

“I don’t know why you’re laughing, Shawn. I’m completely serious.”

.

Joey did manage to get everything sorted out by the end of the day, returning everyone to their proper ages. He was a bit disappointed Henry had missed all the excitement, but it was his and Linda’s anniversary so he was equally glad that he hadn’t bothered the couple. He shuddered at the thought of being yelled at by Linda. Once everyone had been returned to normal, they all left, leaving Joey alone with the toons.

“You really need to be more careful.” Alice lectured him as he put away his spellbooks. “You might end up seriously hurting yourself one of these days.”

“I know I know.” Joey nodded. Bendy and Boris had gone off to go nap somewhere, completely worn out by the events of that day. 

“Joey…” Alice put a hand on Joey’s. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine.” Joey gave her a tired smile. “I’m just…I have to come to terms with it. With getting old.”

“Well, you should know that you’re not alone.” Alice offered a smile of her own. “We’re here for you. Please, remember that.”

“I will.”


	107. Perfect (But Not In The Way She Wanted)

So, I just saw[ this ](http://adobe-outdesign.tumblr.com/post/180460469492/imagine-alicesusie-does-absorb-boris-heart)post from @adobe-outdesign , and I wanted to write it.

I’m supposed to be cleaning out my drafts, but this just struck me. And I ended up going really heavy on the body horror. I’m not sure how that happened. It just did.

* * *

She stared at the heart in her hand, her own heart beginning to pound. This was it. She was going to become perfect. Finally. And then she’d finally take care of Henry. Oh, how wonderful it would be to see his face once he caught sight of her in all her glory. He would fall down on his knees and beg for her forgiveness. It would be glorious. She couldn’t help but giggle to herself. 

“Dreams come true, Susie, dreams come true.” She hummed to herself as she held the heart in front of her face. Perhaps not all of Joey’s prattling about belief had been garbage. Closing her eyes, she pressed the heart against her chest. The heart slipped inside without much of a problem, just as the others before it had. She began to feel her ink shift and change. She was going to be perfect! 

But…No. That didn’t feel right. It felt as though her face was stretching out. Her eyes popped open and she looked down at herself. She could see her face beginning to stretch out before her, forming into something resembling a muzzle. Turning her gaze down to her hands, she saw her dainty feminine hands puffing up, resembling cartoon gloves. This in itself might have excited her, given her on-model counterpart was supposed to have cartoon gloves, had it not been paired with her growing muzzle and the fact that her dress appeared to be turning into overalls.

“No.” She whispered before starting to scream. “NO NO NO NO NO!” It was becoming difficult to talk now as she stormed about her secret lab. Her footfalls grew heavier as her feet grew larger. Her halo vanished into her head along with her hair, her horns turning into slightly floppy ears. She ended up in a corner, hugging her knees and crying silently. She lacked even her feminine form now, everything she’d had, every connection to what she’d once been now erased. She was a Boris now. A stupid, mute Boris. What was she supposed to do now? How was she supposed to become perfect? 

Suddenly, she heard a door open. Someone had found her lab. Normally, she might have tried to defend her sanctuary, but being killed honestly sounded pretty good at that moment. She could return to the ink, build herself back up again. She almost hoped it was the Ink Demon. Unfortunately, it was just Henry. Her shoulders slumped when she saw him. Wonderful. Given that she now looked like every other Boris, she had no doubt he would assume  **she**  was the Boris he’d lost, instead of the one on the table. Sure enough, as soon as the light hit her face, Henry ran over to scoop her up in a hug. 

“There you are, Boris!” He said. “I was so worried about you!” She made no attempt to push him away, nodding glumly. She didn’t even have the ability to tell him no. Better to just play along. Maybe if she was lucky, she’d end up dying along the way.

“Where’s Alice?” Henry pulled back, looking around wildly. “Is she coming back?” She shook her head. 

“Is she…dead?”

She made a ‘so-so’ gesture with her hand. 

“Well, she’s probably gone for now.” Henry got up, shifting his ax to his less dominant hand so he could hold his other one out to her. She regarded it for a moment before finally taking it. She hoped he couldn’t see the defeat in her eyes. 

“She must’ve done a number on you, huh, buddy?” Henry said as he pulled her up. She shrugged, looking listlessly around the room. She hoped no Butcher Gang members would take up residence there while she was gone. Or worse, Searchers or Lost Ones. They always seemed to get ink everywhere. She didn’t want to come back and see her precious lab defaced with their silly writing. 

“We should get going.” Henry let go of her hand, gesturing to the door. She nodded sullenly, following him out. She had to admit, she was rather impressed he’d managed to restore power to the haunted house. She’d put a Projectionist in the train area, and Bertrum was a force to be reckoned with in his own right, although he was thankfully blind enough to mistake Henry for Joey. 

They made their way deeper into the studio, making better progress now that they were on the same side. Alice was admittedly rather jumpy. She didn’t like things being out of her control. Controlling things was one of the few things that had given her peace in this hellhole. Despite herself, she kept grabbing onto Henry at the slightest sound. She wanted to immediately pull away, but she was still scared. 

“It’s okay.” Henry patted her head. “I’m here.” Alice apparently didn’t look entirely convinced, as Henry’s shoulders slumped a bit. 

“I know it’s probably hard to trust me after I let you get captured by Alice, but I promise I’m not going to let you get hurt again.” He said. “I always thought of you and Bendy like my children, and I’m not going to let anyone hurt either of you ever again.” He looked away, biting his lip. “I never should have left you in Joey’s control. I should have taken you with me.” 

Alice hesitated before taking his hand in hers. Henry looked up, unshed tears glistening in his eyes. Alice shook her head, pulling him into a hug and patting his back. She wasn’t doing this because she wanted to comfort him, she told herself. She had to play her part as Boris. She didn’t care that Henry smiled when she hugged him, holding her close. 

“Thank you, Boris,” Henry said when they separated. “I’m going to get us out of here. I promise.”

 As they kept moving, Alice began to find herself conflicted. She hated Henry. He was a traitor. He’d abandoned them all to Joey’s mercy. And yet…He was so kind to her. She’d known he cared about Boris, but she’d never actually witnessed his love for the wolf. She imagined he was probably a very good father. All in all, it felt…nice to be treated with kindness again. It had been such a long time since anyone had treated her like a human being. Even if she was trapped in the body of a cartoon wolf, at least she could take comfort in the fact that someone cared about her, at least a little. 

Then they ran into the other angel in the studio. Alice had been aware that her replacement had also been turned into a version of the character they’d both voiced, and to her frustration, Allison was an even more perfect version of Alice. This had been part of the reason she’d been so desperate to become perfect. She couldn’t let Allison beat her, not when Alice was the only thing she had left! Surprisingly, Alice’s burning hatred for the other voice actress seemed to have cooled a bit. Or maybe she was just too tired from turning into a Boris. At least they wouldn’t kill her now that she was a Boris. 

“Who are you?” Allison took a step forward, brandishing her sword toward Henry. Alice stayed firmly behind Henry. She might not have been feeling any hatred for Allison at the moment, but she still recognized that the other angel was extremely dangerous. Allison and her Boris had been surviving in the depths of the studio for quite a while now. They were not to be trifled with. 

“My name is Henry. Henry Stein.” Henry held his hand out. The Boris at Allison’s side growled at him.

“Tom!” Allison shot him a look. Alice frowned. Tom…There had been someone by that name who’d worked at the studio. Thomas Connor, if she remembered correctly. There was an audio log of his on her level. Now that she thought about it, Allison and Thomas had always been rather close.

“You need to come with us.” Allison turned back to them. “Both of you.” 

“Alright.” Henry looked back at Alice, who proceeded to suction herself to his side. She didn’t quite trust these two. There was always the possibility they could discover her true identity and kill her. And she was actually starting to enjoy traveling with Henry. 

“It’ll be okay.” Henry patted her head again. “They’re not going to hurt us.” Alice did her very best to give him a deadpan look. Everything in the studio was dangerous. 

“Come on.” Allison gestured for them to follow her. Tom stayed behind her, giving them a look that made it very clear he didn’t trust them. Henry followed without another word, taking Alice with him. Alice sighed to herself. It looked like this was something she was going to have to go with. She just hoped Henry would be alright.


	108. Theme Park Chaos

So, I kind of wanted to write Bertrum meeting the cast of [@ask-joeydrewstudios](https://tmblr.co/mEKj2fvdY3Z3PdYpAcyK9pw), so I’m going to do it. Bertrum has mellowed with age. 

Augustus is an oc I came up with to explain who took over Bertrum’s business after he disappeared in the main story. In this, he’s just Bertrum’s nephew who took over after Bertrum “retired”. Or was forced to retire by his sister. 

[Gears112](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Farchiveofourown.org%2Fusers%2FGears112%2Fpseuds%2FGears112&t=MzExYjM1MDczOTgyZTVmNGFiNjgwN2Q4MmNhNjc0ZWRhMGM4Mzk3MyxOOVhNbFZYVA%3D%3D&b=t%3Abf1mUcY3jG5LyWt2YecXMQ&p=http%3A%2F%2Fqueenofcats17.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F180578044435%2Ftheme-park-chaos&m=0) has done a lot of his development.

* * *

“Uncle Bertie, you really didn’t have to come with me,” Augustus said as he pulled into the parking lot of Joey Drew Studios. 

“Nonsense!” Bertrum scoffed, thumping his cane for emphasis. “This is an important contract and as the founder of this firm, I want to thank them properly for allowing us to be the ones who will be designing their park.” 

Augustus sighed to himself. His mother had been right. Bertrum really was going to work until he died. Technically speaking, his uncle had retired a few years back. Well, he’d been forced to by Augustus’ mother Charlotte. Charlotte had been adamant that Bertrum needed to step down. 

“You’re almost 90!” She’d said. “For God’s sake, let someone else be in charge!” Despite being nearly a foot shorter than her elder brother, and at least 100 lbs lighter, Charlotte had won this battle. Bertrum had officially stepped down, making Augustus the legal head of the firm. Of course, Bertrum continued to show up at the office despite not technically working there anymore. He’d stopped doing it as much as of late, but when he’d heard the latest client of the firm was Joey Drew Studios, he’d insisted upon coming with Augustus to discuss the plans. Bertrum would never admit it, but he rather admired Joey Drew. He talked often of the other man’s drive and dedication to his craft. If there was one thing that Bertrum Piedmont respected, it was determination and hard work. 

Both men got out of the car and walked to the studio door. Augustus had a folder with some initial sketches he’d done of possible attractions and what the whole park might look like. Bertrum had been looking over his shoulder the entire time, offering “help”. Augustus was pretty much used to it by now. He opened the door, standing aside so his uncle could go in. The inside of the studio was organized pandemonium, which made Augustus smile a little. The studio felt…like home. He wasn’t sure why he felt that way, but it was a good feeling.

“Who’re you?” Augustus looked down to find Bendy the Dancing Demon standing at his feet. For a moment, he just stared at the little demon, unsure how to react to this. 

“ _I_  am the great Bertrum Piedmont,” Bertrum announced, clearly irritated with his nephew’s silence. “And this is my nephew, Augustus.”

“Augustus DeLume.” Augustus stuck his hand out, more out of habit than anything else. “Mr. Drew hired me to build a park for him.” Bendy’s face immediately lit up. 

“You’re the park guys!” He grabbed Augustus and Bertrum’s hands. “C’mon! Papa Drew’s office is this way!”

“Papa Drew?” Bertrum echoed, squinting in curiosity. “Did Drew…make you?”

“Mm-hm.” Bendy nodded. Bertrum looked at Augustus, who just shrugged. Bendy dragged the two of men to a door bearing Joey Drew’s name. The little demon knocked on the door, bouncing up and down excitedly.

“Come in.” A voice came from inside. Bendy threw the door open, dragging Augustus and Bertrum inside. Joey Drew looked up from the paperwork he’d been going over with Henry and smiled. 

“Ah, Mr. DeLume! And Mr. Piedmont too! I didn’t expect you to come along as well. I heard you’d retired.”

“He’s _supposed_  to be retired,” Augustus said, smiling long-sufferingly at his uncle. 

“I couldn’t very well let Augustus come here alone.” Bertrum gave Augustus a withering glare. “This is a very important contract and I wished to thank you properly for this opportunity.” Bendy was vibrating by Joey’s desk, grinning so wide his face seemed as though it was going to split. 

“You really are excited for this, aren’t you?” Henry laughed, patting Bendy’s head. 

“Papa Drew said we can all walk around if the park gets off the ground!” Bendy nodded excitedly. Henry looked over at Joey, who smiled sheepishly. 

“I…May have mentioned something like that.” He put his hands up in a gesture of surrender. “They’re getting restless.” Henry sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. 

“Well, we’ll see.” He finally conceded. “We need to think this through properly.”

“Yes yes, I know.” 

Suddenly, Bendy stopped. 

“If we get a theme park…Do we have to use those mascot costumes in the basement?” He whispered. There was real terror in his eyes. 

“Mascot costumes?” Augustus looked to Henry and Joey. “You already had mascot costumes made?”

“They were for a meet and greet event a few years ago,” Joey explained, grimacing. “Children…did not respond well to them.”

“They can see into my soul,” Bendy whispered, clinging to Joey’s pant leg. 

“All mascot costumes are a little bit unsettling.” Bertrum shrugged. 

“Yes, but they shouldn’t have to be.” Augustus waved a hand and set his folders on the desk. “In any case, I drew up some plans for the park if you’d like to see them.” 

“Oh! Yes! Of course!” Joey’s face lit up. Augustus relaxed a bit. This was the first normal thing that had happened since he’d arrived at the studio. 

And so he detailed the plans to Joey and Henry, outlining possible attractions, expense reports, and possible locations. Bertrum, of course, jumped in every so often. Henry and Joey listened intently, both noting things in notepads they’d both brought along. Bendy got bored a few minutes in and ran off. 

“So, what do you think?” Augustus asked once he was finished. 

“We’ll have to discuss the expenses with Grant, and there will need to be more discussion about the rides and the layout, but I think this could work. I must say, I’m rather impressed,” Joey said, smiling wide. “Thank you so much, Mr. DeLume, Mr. Piedmont. You both certainly came prepared.”

“Thank you, sir.” Augustus began gathering his papers. “Our company does try to be prepared for everything. You wouldn’t believe how many of our clients don’t understand just what goes into making a theme park.”

“We all made sure we knew exactly what we were getting into with this.” Henry nodded sagely. 

“Very wise,” Bertrum said.

“I should probably get back to work.” Henry checked his watch. “I’ll be back later, alright?”

“Don’t work too hard!” Joey called after him. “And remember! Your coffee privileges have been revoked!” Henry made a noise that might have qualified as irritation before leaving the room. Augustus noted that his uncle was trying to, very discretely, look around Joey’s office. Bertrum’s gaze settled on the picture frame on Joey’s desk. 

“That’s a lovely picture.” His voice went soft as he examined the picture. It was of Joey with the toons, almost like a family portrait. Right next to it was a picture of Henry and Joey, and beside that a picture of Henry, a woman he assumed to be Henry’s wife, and a young boy. 

“Ah, well, yes.” Joey smiled, looking down at the pictures as well. “I like to remind myself of the important things in my life.” 

“Uncle Bertie used to have a lot of pictures like this on his desk,” Augustus said without thinking.

“Augustus!” Bertrum said.

“Do you have a family, Mr. Piedmont?” Joey asked, leaning on his desk. 

“…Of a sort.” Bertrum answered hesitantly. “I have no wife nor child if that’s what you’re asking. I never really felt the urge to get married.” 

“I can understand that.” Joey nodded. “Who were your photographs of, if I may ask?”

“My sister and her family.” Bertrum glanced towards Augustus, who had moved over to the side to go through his papers once more. An almost tender expression passed across his face, something that was most definitely not missed by Joey. 

“You know, I think I’m going to like working with you, Mr. Piedmont.” 

.

They spent a little more time in Joey’s office, which was mostly filled by Bertrum and Joey talking about their respective families while Augustus not so subtly watched them. He couldn’t wait to tell his mother about this. Charlotte would be so proud of Bertrum for making a friend. 

“Ah, look at the time!” Joey glanced at the clock. “You’d both best be going. I imagine you have other clients to attend to.”

“Of course, of course.” Bertrum rose from where he’d been sitting. “It was a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Drew.”

“And you as well, Mr. Piedmont.” Joey shook Bertrum’s hand warmly. Augustus and Bertrum made their way out of the office and back toward the entrance. About halfway there, the voice of a woman interrupted them. 

“Bertrum Piedmont. I should’ve known you’d still be kicking, you old bastard.” Augustus frowned as he and his uncle turned to face the woman who had spoken. 

“Lacie Benton.” Bertrum smiled slyly. “So this is where you disappeared to.”

“Do you two know each other?” Augustus asked. He’d heard his uncle talk about a woman named Lacie before. Usually followed by a longwinded tangent about how he would have liked to have her as a daughter. 

“I did some work for him years back,” Lacie said. “Before I got offered the job here. You must be the nephew.”

“Yes, that would be me.” Augustus smiled slightly nervously.

“You’re one of the best mechanics I ever had the pleasure of working with. I was sorry to see you go.” Bertrum sighed. “I trust Drew is treating you well?”

“Eh, he’s alright.” Lacie shrugged. “Got his head up in the clouds half the time, but he means well.”

“Good good.” Bertrum thumped his cane thoughtfully. 

“I guess I’ll be seeing you both around,” Lacie said, eyes going to the folder in Augustus’ arms. “You’re building Drew’s theme park, right?”

“That we are.” Augustus nodded. “Although I’m not sure how often Uncle Bertie will be coming with me.” He shot his uncle a warning glare, which Bertrum utterly ignored. 

“I’m not dead yet!” He said. “I will be coming here as often as I am able for this project!” Augustus sighed, which made Lacie start to laugh. 

“Good to see you haven’t changed a bit.” She said. “Have a nice night, you two.” Then she turned and left, leaving Augustus to usher his uncle out to the car. He had a feeling this was going to be an interesting contract.


	109. Everybody Goes To Disneyland

**[happygamingbubbleswithmemes](https://happygamingbubbleswithmemes.tumblr.com/) asked: Could you do a prompt where Jane and the main studio cast, including Joey, go to a Disney park because "Fuck you, Joey."?**

I’d rather not continue writing Jane. She’s your character and I’m just not confident I can accurately portray her. I’m not comfortable writing your stories for you. But I will write the cast going to Disneyland.

Credit to this [post ](http://adobe-outdesign.tumblr.com/post/170555504457/joey-did-indeed-try-to-fight-walt-disney-once-but)by @adobe-outdesign for my main idea.

* * *

Joey was not happy. He’d made this very clear the entire way over, making absolutely sure that  **everyone**  knew how unhappy he was with this whole situation. Henry sighed heavily. He, Joey, and Grant were in Henry’s car, on the way to Disneyland. Technically, the whole studio was headed there. Walt Disney had reached out to the company, inviting them to tour his recently opened park. He’d mentioned wanting to do a collaboration with Joey involving both their characters. The popularity of Joey Drew Studios had waned in recent years, but the studio Henry and Joey had started was still one of the giants of the animation industry.

Most of the employees were traveling together in other cars, all extremely excited to see the park. Grant, Joey, and Henry were riding together to talk logistics with Walt. They were going to tour the park themselves, of course, but business came first. Someone had to keep an eye on Joey too. Henry glanced back at his friend. Joey had stopped complaining for the moment, but he still seemed to be fuming. He was slumped down, arms folded, glaring out the car window.

“Once we get there, be on your best behavior,” Henry said. “It was very nice of Mr. Disney to give us free passes to the park.” 

“Not to mention that he still wants to collaborate with you, even after your tactless display at the awards show last year,” Grant added, flipping through some papers. 

“I’m honestly surprised he didn’t completely stop talking to us after that.” Henry groaned.

“It wasn’t that bad,” Joey grumbled. 

“You called him a talentless hack who only got popular by mooching off Iwerk’s hard work.”

“Well, I wasn’t wrong, was I?”

Henry just sighed and shook his head. “You can’t just say things like that to people, Joey.”

“Not even if they’re true?”

Henry didn’t answer. Grant pursed his lips. It would be a miracle if Joey managed to get through this meeting with Disney without screwing it up. Normally, Joey could deal with people he didn’t like just fine. He’d put on a smile and pretend like he didn’t want to kill them, sliding in snide remarks whenever he could. Grant wasn’t sure why Walt Disney was any different. It seemed as though Joey couldn’t control himself around the other studio head.

They arrived at the park a few moments later. Most of the studio staff were already gathered at the gates, being greeted by Walt Disney himself. Joey’s eyes narrowed as he noticed the other man.

“Look at him.” He snarled. “Buttering up  _my_  workers.”

“Joey. Be nice.” Henry said. Joey grumbled quietly. They parked and Henry got Joey’s wheelchair out of the trunk, getting his friend in and wheeling him over to where Walt was. 

“Ah! Mr. Drew, Mr. Stein!” Walt waved them over. “I’m so glad you decided to come.”

“Thank you again for this.” Henry walked over to shake Walt’s hand. “I really appreciate it.”

“No need to thank me.” Walt smiled. “It’s a pleasure to be working with you, Mr. Stein.”

“On that subject, I have some logistics I need to share with you.” Grant stepped forward, brandishing a manilla folder he’d prepared. Behind them, Joey was still glaring intently at Walt. 

“So, uh, do you need us to stay with you, or…?” Sammy asked quietly. He was holding Susie’s hand, both of them glancing eagerly at the park gates. Behind them, Joey could see Allison and Thomas talking excitedly with Wally, Shawn, and Jack while Norman stood a few feet away with Lacie and Bertrum looking at a map. For a moment, Joey was surprised Bertrum had come along until he saw that the architect’s hand was entwined with Lacie’s. The other employees had apparently already gone in.

“Go on.” Joey slumped in his chair. In an instant, Sammy and Susie were gone, soon followed by all the others. Joey glowered after them. None of them had been nearly this excited for the opening of Bendyland. He turned his gaze back to Henry, Walt, and Grant. They seemed to be wrapping up whatever conversation they were having, saying something along the lines of continuing the talk later. Grant left with Walt, and Henry returned to Joey. 

“Mr. Disney is going to take Grant to talk with his accountant.” He said. “So we have the run of the park for the time being.”

“I still don’t understand why we had to do this,” Joey grumbled as they entered the park. “We have work to do! Animations to finish!”

“Everyone needs a break,” Henry said. “We’ve all been working too hard. Besides, you need to get over your ego and play nice with Mr. Disney. I thought you cared about appearances.” 

“I don’t like him.”

“Yes, I can tell. Everyone can tell.” 

All around them, children and families were walking around. The children were pulling on their parents’ clothing, screaming and running about. Joey leaned back in his chair, his angry expression softening a little bit.

“Let’s just have fun, alright?” Henry suggested, going to buy a turkey leg from a vendor. “We don’t have any work to do today. We can just relax. Like we did in college. It’ll be great.”

“We’re not here to have fun,” Joey said. “We’re here to find out Disney’s secrets and then outdo him in the market.”

“Can’t you have fun for once?” Henry sighed, taking his place behind Joey’s wheelchair. Joey made an angry noise, biting off a bit of the turkey leg he’d been handed.

“It’s not as good as bacon soup.”

“Joey, shut up.”

To Joey’s absolute horror, he did end up having fun that day. Everyone had fun. It had been a while since any of them had had a break. It felt good to have fun for an afternoon. Even Grant managed to have a bit of time to himself. A few people saw him riding the teacups. He was smiling for once. At the end of the day, they all gathered at the gate.

“Alright, so, we all had fun.” Joey cleared his throat awkwardly. “But if anyone ever brings this up again, you will be summarily sacked. Understood?”

“Understood.” The employees echoed, smiling to themselves. 

“Good.” Joey nodded. “Now, I’ll see you all at the studio on Monday.” The crowd dispersed, leaving Grant, Henry, and Joey alone. 

“That went far better than I expected it to.” Grant allowed himself a small smile. “You didn’t even get removed from the park for making a scene.”

“Shut up Cohen,” Joey muttered. 

“Let’s get you home.” Henry started pushing Joey back toward the car. “You can sleep at my house tonight. We can talk about the collaboration with Disney tomorrow. Alright?”

“Alright.”

Grant chuckled to himself before following after them. Maybe this was actually going to go well.


	110. Chapter 110

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I don't know if I posted this here or not, but I'm very proud of it.

**[magicalmonsterhero](https://magicalmonsterhero.tumblr.com/) asked: Something based on one or more of the following AUs: Buddy, Rubberhose, Toon Henry, 2D Bendy, Ink Henry (Safe [all stories]: C2 characters, C3 boys, Wally, Lacie)**

I haven’t written anything in [@yunisverse](https://tmblr.co/mRGj3hUquKMYprA0_Sc5RnA) ‘s Rubberhose AU in awhile so I might as well. This will be a little angsty. 

* * *

There was something so horrifying about being turned into a cartoon character against your will. The most horrifying part was the slow degradation of his self, the entire core of his being. Everything he was…slowly being reduced to a caricature of his former self. There was something terrifying about that thought. Henry held no misconceptions about who he was. He’d made many mistakes in his life, especially in regards to his children and his work. He was far from perfect. But dammit, he would cling to his sense of self as though his life depended on it! Still, he could feel it slipping through his fingertips. 

“I’ll  _never_  pass for a  _real_ toon like this.” He found himself saying as he looked at himself in the mirror in Boris’ safehouse. This thought gave him pause. Why would he care if he passed for a real toon? He wasn’t one. He was human, dammit! Human! He closed his eyes and tried to remember his wife’s face, the faces of his children, anything to tie him back to reality. To his horror, he drew a blank.

“No. Nononononono.” He began to panic in a rather comic fashion, something that didn’t escape his notice. 

“What’s wrong?” Boris poked his head into the room.

“I can’t remember their faces,” Henry said, turning to the wolf with wide, panicked eyes.

“Whose faces?” Boris asked, even though he knew full well who Henry was talking about.

“Linda, Peggy, Hank…” He trailed off. He was forgetting someone. He had another child, didn’t he?

“Don’t you have three kids?” Boris asked, trying to hide how nervous he was getting. 

“I…I think so.” Henry frowned. “Why can’t I remember?” He was starting to panic. 

“Let’s just keep looking for Alice and Ben.” Boris tried to gently drag Henry away. Henry resisted a little, but ultimately let Boris take him away. He couldn’t remember the faces of his family. He couldn’t even remember his third child’s name. 

“I’m glad you came back,” Boris said a few minutes later.

“What?” 

“I’m glad you came back,” Boris repeated, smiling back at Henry. “I know you didn’t want to, and I know this has been pretty rough, but  _I’m_ glad you’re here.”

“That’s…Thanks.” Henry smiled slightly. He’d get them out, eventually. But first, they needed to find the other toons.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading, you're all lovely.


End file.
